MotoGP By the Numbers: 2017 Spanish GP at Jerez

The grand prix world championship series was introduced in 1949 with four classes for solo motorcycles: 500cc, 350cc, 250cc and 125cc.

The very first race counting towards a world championship classification was the 350cc race at the 1949 Isle of Man TT races, which took place on Monday 13th June and was won by British rider Freddie Frith on a Velocette.

The country that has hosted the greatest number of grand prix races is Spain, with 373 prior to this weekend.

The circuit that has hosted the greatest number of grand prix races is the TT Circuit Assen, with 262. Assen is the only current venue that has been used consecutively for a longer period than Jerez.

For the last three years at Jerez, the rider who has won the MotoGP race has started from pole position.

Valentino Rossi is the most successful rider at the Jerez circuit, with nine grand prix victories to his name; a single victory in both the 125cc and 250cc classes add to his seven in the premier-class.

Since the introduction of the MotoGP class in 2002, Honda has had seven victories at Jerez, the last of which was three years ago with Marc Marquez.

Ducati's only win at Jerez was in 2006 when Loris Capirossi won from pole position. The last time a Ducati rider finish on the podium at Jerez was in 2011 when Nicky Hayden was third.

Last year Aleix Espargaro finished fifth at Jerez to equal the best ever result for Suzuki at the circuit in the MotoGP era. Suzuki's last victory at Jerez was in 2000, when Kenny Roberts won the 500cc race on his way to taking the world title.

Jerez has been the most successful circuit for the Spanish riders as regards premier-class victories, with a total of eleven wins; Alberto Puig in 1995, Alex Criville in 1997, 98, 99, Sete Gibernau in 2004, Dani Pedrosa in 2008 & 2013, Jorge Lorenzo in 2010, 2011 & 2015, and Marc Marquez in 2014.

Alberto Puig's victory at Jerez on 7th May 1995 was the first win for a Spanish rider in the premier-class on home soil.

Last year was the first since 2009 that Spain did not have at least one winner across the three classes at the Jerez GP.

There have been five different winners in the MotoGP class at Jerez in the last five years: Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

The seven Moto2 races that have taken place at Jerez have been won by seven different riders, none of whom are competing full-time in the class in 2017: Toni Elias, Andrea Iannone, Pol Espargaro, Tito Rabat, Mika Kallio, Jonas Folger and Sam Lowes.

Aleix Espargaro is scheduled to make his 200th grand prix start at Jerez. He will be the 32nd rider in the 69-year history of the motorcycle world championship series to reach the milestone of 200 GP starts across all classes, and the ninth Spanish rider to do so. The race in Spain will be his 116th start in the MotoGP class, adding to 17 starts in Moto2, 44 in 250cc and 23 in 125cc.

After his second place finish in Austin, Valentino Rossi heads the championship classification for the first time since he arrived at the final race of 2015 at Valencia with a seven point lead over Jorge Lorenzo.

Valentino Rossi is the oldest rider to head the premier-class world championship table since Jack Findlay had joint leadership, together with Barry Sheene, of the 500cc world championship in 1977 at the age of 42. Findlay had won the second race of the year in Austria - a race boycotted by many of the top riders.

Valentino Rossi has taken a total of 21 GP wins on Spanish soil, including both his victories last year. The breakdown of wins by circuit is: Catalunya - 10 (6 x MotoGP, 1 x 500cc, 2 x 250cc, 1 x 125cc), Jerez - 9 (6 x MotoGP, 1 x 500cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 125cc), Valencia - 2 (2 x MotoGP).

The win by Marc Marquez in Austin was the 52nd time he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class, the same number of premier-class podium appearances as 1987 500cc world champion Wayne Gardner. Only 10 riders in the 69-year history of motorcycle Grand Prix racing have finished on the podium in the premier-class more often than Marquez.

Dani Pedrosa's third place finish in Austin was the 145th time he has stood on the podium across the grand prix classes. This is the same number of GP podium finishes as his great rival Jorge Lorenzo. Only Valentino Rossi (224) and Giacomo Agostini (159) have more top three grand prix finishes than these two Spanish rivals.

Eleventh place finisher in Austin, Jonas Folger, crossed the line just 18.903 seconds behind race winner Marc Marquez. This is the closest top 11 of the MotoGP era in a race that has covered full distance; the only full length premier-class Grand Prix race ever to have finished with a smaller margin covering the top eleven riders across the line is the 500cc Australian GP in 2000 when 15.939 seconds covering first eleven riders.

Following fifth place finishes in the last two races, Johann Zarco is now the highest placed rookie in the championship standings in seventh place, one point ahead of his teammate Jonas Folger. Twenty-two points is the highest point score after the first three races of the year by a rookie on a Yamaha since 2008, when Jorge Lorenzo scored 61 points after the opening three races of the year on the factory Yamaha with James Toseland on the Tech3 Yamaha scoring 29 points.

Only six riders have scored points in all three of the MotoGP races in 2017: Valentino Rossi, Jonas Folger, Scott Redding, Jack Miller, Tito Rabat and Hector Barbera.

The win by Marc Marquez in Austin was his 30th MotoGP victory, one more win than his teammate Dani Pedrosa. Marquez is now the rider with most wins of the MotoGP era riding a Honda.

Last year Valentino Rossi won at Jerez for the first time since 2009. It was the first time that he had won at any circuit in the MotoGP class by starting from pole position and leading across the line on every lap of the race.

After neither rider finished in the top three at the opening race of the year, teammates Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa both stood on the podium in Austin. This is the first time that the two Repsol Honda riders had been on the podium together since the Catalan Grand Prix last year when Marquez was second and Pedrosa third.

With his third place finish in Austin, Dani Pedrosa has finished on the podium at least once in all twelve seasons he has competed in the MotoGP class.

Only two riders have completed more successive years with at least one premier-class GP podium: Valentino Rossi (18) and Giacomo Agostini (13).