Qatar 2024 Statistics

A few stats to look out for in this coming weekend in Qatar and in the 2024 season:

Sixteen of the riders on the MotoGP entry list are past winners in the class. If all of the riders make it to the grid in Qatar it will set a new record for highest number of premier-class winners assembled together on one grid. At the start of 2023 there were thirteen rider on the MotoGP entry list who had won in the class; added to this during the year were Marco Bezzecchi, Johann Zarco and Fabio di Giannantonio. However during 2023 there was at least one of the riders absent from the grid due to injury at each race, resulting in there never being more than 14 winners starting.

The last rider to win back-to-back MotoGP races was Pecco Bagnaia in Austria and at Misano in 2022; a run of 26 races without a back-to-back winner (not counting Sprint races of course!) This is the longest run of premier-class Grand Prix races without a back-to-back winner. The previous longest run was twenty-two premier-class winners without a back-to-back winner during the 1999/2000 seasons. There is still some way to go before matching the longest sequence without a back-to-back winner across all classes; this stands at 56 in the 125cc class, from the Czech GP in 2002 to the Qatar GP in 2006.

Having won the final race of 2023. Pecco Bagnaia will be attempting to become the first rider for a few years to win the last final race of one season and the opening race of the following season. The last rider to do this was Andrea Dovizioso who won the final race of 2018 and the opening race of 2019. During 2024 Bagnaia will be aiming to join an elite group of rider who have won three successive premier-class world titles; the rider who have done this are: Geoff Duke, John Surtees, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini, Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey, Mick Doohan, Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez.

Can Marc Marquez win on his Ducati debut? The last rider to win on his debut riding for Ducati was Casey Stoner at the opening race of 2007 in Qatar. A couple of other milestones and records that Marquez will be going for in 2024:

– If he takes the title he will be at 31 the oldest rider to win the MotoGP title (since it replaced the 500cc class at the premier-class of Grand Prix racing in 2002). The current oldest winner of the MotoGP title is Valentino Rossi, at the age of 30 years 251 days in 2009.

– A win for Marquez this year will come more than ten years after his first victory in the MotoGP class at Austin in 2013. Only eight other riders have had a winning career in the premier-class of more than ten years: Valentino Rossi (16 years 351 days), Alex Barros (11/204), Dani Pedrosa (11/182), Andrea Dovizioso (11/21), Phil Read (11/16), Giacomo AGostini (11/7), Loris Capirossi (10/338), Jorge Lorenzo (10/121). A win at the final race of the year for Marquez would take him up to second place in this list.

Fermin Aldeguer was the sensation of the final part of the 2023 season, winning the final four Moto2 races of the year, while still just 18 years old. With these victories he became the youngest ever rider to win four successive Intermediate-class (250cc/Moto2) Grand Prix races, as shown in the table below:

Youngest riders to win four successive Intermediate-class races

Fermin Aldeguer 18 years 235 days

Valentino Rossi 19 years 251 days

Marco Melandri 19 years 341 days

Freddie Spencer 23 years 191 days

Daijiro Kato 24 years 320 days

Max Biaggi 24 years 349 days

Tarquinio Provini 25 years 52 days

Phil Read 25 years 256 days

Mike Hailwood 26 years 57 days

Carlo Ubbiali 26 years 290 days

Werner Haas 27 years 41 days

Toni Elias 27 years 163 days

Considering all classes, the youngest riders to win four successive Grand Prix races are:

Marc Marquez (125cc) 17 years 137 days

Valentino Rossi (125cc) 18 years 154 days

Fermin Aldeguer (Moto2) 18 years 235 days

Haruchika Aoki (125cc) 19 years 75 days

Marco Melandri (250cc) 19 years 341 days

Mike Hailwood (500cc) 22 years 139 days

Rupert Hollaus (125cc) 22 years 324 days

Angel Nieto (50cc) 23 years 153 days

Freddie Spencer (250cc) 23 years 191 days

Gary Hocking (500cc) 23 years 316 days

Close racing in Qatar

The 2021 MotoGP race in Qatar (the Doha Grand Prix) hold the record for the smallest time difference covering the first 15 riders across the line, at just 8.928 seconds. The Losail circuit is the one that appears most in the following table showing the closest races of all-time in terms of time covering the top 15 finishers. All of the races on this list are from the start of the 2018 racing season (only races that have covered full race distance are included).