List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing World champions

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Giacomo Agostini, who has won 15 motorcycle world championships,
Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the main championship of motorcycle road racing, which has been divided into three classes since the 1990 season: 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP, with the addition of MotoE, an electric motorcycle class, in 2022. Classes that have been discontinued include 350cc and 50cc/80cc.[1] The World Grand Prix Road Racing Championship was established in 1949 by the sport's governing body Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) and is the oldest motorsport world championship.[2]

When the championship started in 1949, there were four classes; 500cc, 350cc, 250cc and 125cc. The 50cc class was introduced in the 1962 season. Due to rising costs which saw a number of manufacturers withdraw from the championship, the FIM limited 50cc bikes to single cylinder 125cc and 250cc bikes. cm were limited to two cylinders, and motorcycles with an engine capacity of 350 cc. cm and 500 cc. cm - four cylinders. The 350cc class was discontinued in 1982; two years later the 50cc class was replaced by the 80cc class, which was discontinued in 1989. In 2002, 990cc bikes. cc replaced 500cc bikes. See, and this class was renamed MotoGP.[3] 600cc bikes replaced 250cc bikes for the 2010 season and the class was renamed Moto2.[4]

Giacomo Agostinis has won the most world championships with 15 victories. Angel Nieto is in second place with 13 World Championships and Valentino Rossi, Mike Hailwood and Carlo Ubbiali are in third place with 9 World Championships.[5] Agostini holds the record for most wins in the 500cc/MotoGP and 350cc classes, winning eight and seven world championships respectively. Phil Reed and Max Biaggi have won the most championships in the 250cc/Moto2 class, with four wins each. Nieto won the most championships in the 125cc and 50cc/80cc classes, with seven and six victories respectively.[6]

Champions

Rider

Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing World Champions

Around the country

Grand Prix motorcycle racing World champions by country

Results of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship - MotoGP: goodbye to the New Golden Era!

We continue to sum up the results of the 2021 Grand Motorcycle Prix season, and now - #MotoGP. The season turned out to be enchanting, sudden, very competitive and sad at the same time. Its completion also marks the end of the New Golden Era of Moto Grand Prix.

MOTOGONKI.RU, November 17, 2022 — Before our eyes, there is a complete change in the exhibition, as well as the principles of organizing and conducting Grand Prix races. The 2022 season is a completely new story, which we will not get to know this week, not at the IRTA tests in Jerez. This story begins in Sepang, in February.

Part 1 - Moto3

Part 2 - Moto2

Instead of a preface

In the meantime, a big story that began in 2000 is coming to an end. Dorna Sports took over the helm of MotoGP in 1992, when it was a completely different championship with its own concepts and foundations, and it spoke English. But since 1998, Moto Grand Prix has become a European show and speaks Spanish and Italian. During the first 7-8 years of its reign, Dorna radically changed the series, making it what we know it today. This process has been going on for 25 years... Read more here: History of modern MotoGP: 30 years of Dorna Sports

All 9 championship motorcycles of Rossi

That's why we say that the championship we know today is the same age as Valentino Rossi's career. And Rossi himself is a figure born of this championship. Rossi made MotoGP the way we love it. MotoGP constantly forced Valentino to change something in his life and develop along with the series. New rivals, new technologies, new motorcycles, new tires—every year something changed. Two things remained unchanged: Dorna Sports and Valentino Rossi!

That's why when we say MotoGP we mean Rossi and vice versa. Rossi in MotoGP is a certain constant, a starting point, a source, just like Dorna Sports.

There was a history of Moto Grand Prix before Valentino Rossi - and with his participation. And from 2022 a new one will begin, without Valentino

You can also say this: before 1998 there was chaos, and by 2000 the New Order was born out of chaos. In 2002, the history of MotoGP began - it is both the name of a class, a brand of the highest category, and a trademark. For 20 years we lived in this order, which, without exaggeration, can be called the New Golden Era of Grand Prix.

The Old Golden Era was the mid-80s and 90s, when tobacco sponsors brought cash to the teams, literally by the suitcase, and the racers put on a show, sometimes drinking a shot of whiskey for courage before the start, and after a victory they grabbed their gridgirls and... Well, in general, it was fun and scary. Because motorcycles became more and more powerful, and the tracks, brakes and tires often could not keep up with the engines. In 2000, FIM, together with Dorna, MSMA and IRTA, began to bring the affairs of the championship to an order that is understandable to us today, and motorsport became from the word “SPORT”.

Valentino Rossi officially named MotoGP Legend

Of the 30 years that Dorna has been running Moto Grand Prix, the last 20 have been a true top sport worthy of Olympic level. And that’s why motorcycle racers are now more often called athletes, because that’s what they are - professional athletes who live according to a schedule and spend up to 30% of their time on physical exercise. And the fact that Valentino Rossi has gone through this entire evolution along with the championship, from a 17-year-old hotshot to a 42-year-old veteran, not inferior in form to 20-year-old champions, makes him a unique phenomenon. Besides the fact that he also did his own show within the Dorna show, and they complemented each other in an amazing way. Not to mention the fact that Rossi alone has almost as many fans as the entire championship!

Dorna Sports, 30 years together

In addition to Valentino leaving the scene, there is also a lot of turnover in the Dorna Sports office - many veterans who started working with Carmelo Ezpeleta and Manel Arroyo in the late 90s are leaving the team. Completely new people took their place.

It’s hard to say what MotoGP will be like without Rossi and with new management.

To others.

Okay, to the end of the 2022 season...

MotoGP without Marquez

Another season that the Honda factory project was buried waiting for some good news. The absence of Marc Marquez due to injury in 2022 has spurred the growth of other HRC drivers, and also forced the Corporation to completely rethink its approach to prototype development. But this process took too long. Unfortunately, in terms of performance, 2021 was a marginally better year overall, mainly due to the decline in production of Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami. Team newcomer Pol Espargaro progressed throughout the season and reached the podium level, but the final in Valencia did not go according to plan - Paul was injured and refused to participate in the final race, although he had every chance of being on the 1st or 2nd line of the starting grid.

Marc Marquez's return after almost 300 days of rehabilitation took place at the end of April, at the 3rd stage of MotoGP in Portugal. Marquez and Repsol Honda decided that the best way to rehabilitate and get back into shape was to actually work as a team every weekend, even if not for results. Realizing the impossibility of fighting for the title, Marquez nevertheless returned to form on tracks where left-hand turns prevailed: he won the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring and took victory in Austin (USA). In Aragon, he fought to the last with Pecco Bagnaia for victory and became 2nd. And then he won the race in Emilia-Romagna (Misano), which he called “much more valuable than Austin” - this is the first track, twisting to the right, where Mark was 100%.

Marc Marquez returned with victories in Germany and the USA

3 victories in MotoGP in a season is a cool result for a 100% healthy pilot in perfect physical shape! However, the season ended with a new injury, and received not in MotoGP, but in enduro training... This is a concussion, and the consequence of the injuries was partial damage to the nerve that controls the muscles of the right eye. Márquez began to experience recurrent double vision syndrome, similar to the one he suffered in 2011 after his injury in Sepang. The team is closely monitoring the situation. Mark missed the second race in Portimao and then Valencia. Apparently, Mark may miss such important IRTA tests in Jerez on November 18-19... I would like to discuss the topic of Marquez in more detail in a separate article.

The “MotoGP without Márquez” championship (without Márquez the title contender) is just as different a phenomenon as the “MotoGP without Rossi”. If they say about Rossi that “No Rossi - No Party,” then racing without Mark is a pure extravaganza. Since 2013, Márquez has set a new level of motorcycle riding, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and dominating. He pushed all participants in the championship to improve themselves, and by 2022 we have a racing series of equal opportunities, where everyone wants and can win.

The best way any rider has put it was when KTM's Brad Binder commented on the podium at the 2020 Czech Grand Prix: "Without Márquez, everyone felt like they could win."

- and this inspired many to heroic deeds. In the wake of new chaos, when there is no single leader in the championship, and many want to win races, becoming a champion following a certain strategy is even more difficult. In 2022, Joan Mir became the champion, because in all the chaos, the Suzuki project turned out to be the most holistic, and Mir, together with Rins, rode on a wave of some stability to the titles. They really could have taken the Triple Crown if not for the fiasco in Portimao.

Fabio Quartararo is the 2022 MotoGP champion

Fabio Quartararo from Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP is the 2022 MotoGP champion

, who joined the team in place of Valentino Rossi. This is the strangest bet ever made in 2018 by Sepang Racing Team and its manager Razlan Razali: the Malay leader saw in this Frenchman what made him unique. But not in Moto3 and not in Moto2, but in MotoGP, and specifically on board the Yamaha YZR-M1. Fabio knows how to move around the motorcycle in such a way as to redistribute the weight distribution CORRECTLY at every right moment. He doesn't sit for a second! He is always on the move. And this helped him achieve nirvana in his relationship with M1. Quartararo finished the Petronas Yamaha SRT “school” with a solid “5” in his certificate and moved to the factory garage to fight for the title. If Team Suzuki Ecstar and its pilots sailed to the title in 2022 in an unexpected way, then Quartararo and Yamaha went to victory quite deliberately.

Yamaha Racing has corrected all the mistakes made in 2022, so Quartararo has a motorcycle that is close to ideal in terms of handling and stability. With the only weakness - the lack of peak power in comparison... with all rivals, including Aprilia! In terms of maximum speed, the Yamaha pilots did not lose so much (3-7 km/h), but when it came to jerking the engine - during overtaking or slipstreaming, anyone could “pull” the tuning forks on a straight line or at the exit of a bend. Quartararo, Vinales, Rossi and Franco Morbidelli tried everything to somehow compensate for the lack of power, using all the strengths of the YZR-M1, including phenomenal braking stability. But one way or another, Ducati, Honda and Suzuki easily beat the Yamaha pilots. The exception where Ducati's plans completely failed was the race in Qatar - due to the design of the track and the weather conditions.

Joan Mir returned to the podium after missing too many opportunities in the first half of the season

Yamaha's main competition for 2022 is once again the Ducati factory project, represented by a pair of pilots from the factory garage and a pair of Pramac Ducati - four riders with direct factory contracts, aimed at one thing only: to dethrone Yamaha.

In 2022, Ducati Corse boss Luigi Dal'Igna and his right-hand man, the team's sporting director Paolo Ciabatti, ensured that their four riders implemented a team strategy in two directions: defending and winning the Manufacturers' Cup, as well as strengthening their position in the teams' championship. The plan, of course, was to compete for the title in the individual competition, but Ducati could not decide on the name of the flagship until the very end. If at the beginning of the season Joan Zarco from Pramac looked very strong, while Jack Miller soon took his place in the general classification, but Miller was clearly not up for the title. It was only in August that it became clear that Francesco Bagnaia was finally ready to fulfill his duty to Ducati Corse and make all the dreams of Dal Igni and Co. come true. But in August it was too late to think about it:

Quartararo gained momentum and enough points to enter the second half as a clear leader, with confidence high in achieving his goal. In fact, Bagnaia admitted that his chances of winning the drivers' title slipped away at Silverstone after a big mistake was made with his tire choice. And although the last three months for Ducati were spent in constant attack, Quartararo comfortably became champion - ahead of schedule, at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the second race of the season in Misano (taking the place of the canceled Thai Grand Prix).

Hard is the new Medium...

The key factor that significantly accelerated Ducati in the second half of the season was the new principle of choosing tires: previously, few people decided to use Michelin front slicks in the Hard compound for racing in average temperature conditions (up to +26). They were installed if the asphalt temperature was guaranteed to be above +30-35. Last year Ducati played with kits, but mostly used Medium, and back they installed Soft. But with the new Hard front slicks, all Ducati riders received an incredible advantage: firstly, the braking was perfect; secondly, at the entrances to turns. Bagnaia noted that with these tires it was possible to easily solve all the issues with understeering, which Ducati pilots suffered from so much in 2017-19. When they started installing a set of tires one step harder, everything suddenly decided by itself! But it only started working 100% in 2022.

Start of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in the MotoGP class

And although in Emilia-Romagna this led to disaster for both pilots of the factory team (Miller fell 5 laps after the start, and Bagnaia - from the position of the leader - 5 laps before the finish), it was not a mistake of choice, but bad luck: the clouds hid the sun in the middle of the race, and the temperature on the track dropped by 3-4 degrees (below +25), so that the front Hard began to work on the verge of breakdown. At Silverstone, on the contrary, when choosing a softer set, Bagnaia wore out his tires in 8-10 laps and lost his chances of winning. This is the case when in Misano the winning choice was Medium, and Silverstone - Hard... that is, just the opposite. But Pecco o.

In general, the new Hard tires from Michelin have become much more attractive. First of all, because a new frame was introduced. Secondly, because the Hard compound was made a little softer than usual, maintaining endurance. For Ducati and Honda this is just the perfect solution! For Yamaha and Suzuki, no, because now “any tire is too soft” for them, as Valentino Rossi said in Valencia.

Quartararo vs Bagnai? No, it's Yamaha vs Ducati!

Main fight - Quartararo vs Ducati

It's hard to say that Fabio fought all season only with Bagnaia. It was a battle between one Yamaha and the entire Ducati group, which set itself the goal of overthrowing the tuning forks from the Pantheon. And Quartararo, as the only (fastest) Yamaha pilot, became a target in this race for everyone at Ducati. As I said above, Banyaya made a breakthrough after the summer holidays, although quite late.

One way or another, in the second half of the season, Pecco scored 143 points against 122, which went to Quartararo. They both fell once during this period: Quartararo dropped out of the Algarve Grand Prix, the second race in Portimao; Bagnaia - in Emilia-Romagna, the second race in Misano. What is typical is that they… won the first races of the season on these tracks very easily! Quartararo beat Bagnaia at the Portuguese Grand Prix, and Bagnaia beat Quartararo in San Marino.

Pramac Ducati pilots hold off Quartararo in Portimao

Without the fall in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Bagnaia would have gained an advantage over Quartararo, they would have tied the score after Portugal and then, in Valencia, the battle of the century would have taken place, in which the Ducati dominated through and through, because it was no longer just a race, but a targeted campaign against Yamaha.

Of course, from Banyai's point of view, winning the championship was unlikely at Silverstone (where he lost many points). But this possibility remained until the last moment.

The most interesting thing is that Quartararo’s fall in Portimao was not due to the fact that he “had already become a champion and relaxed.” On the contrary, Fabio was terribly tense about the fact that Ducati gained superiority in everything, including a fairly tough team strategy and layered defense of positions on the approaches to the TOP-3. Quartararo simply tried to close the gap to the leaders by braking later and later, which led to him reaching the limits - and crashing out. At the same time, Quartararo was not fighting with Bagnaia or Miller for a place on the podium, but trying to get to the podium past Joan Zarco and Jorge Martin, the second factory pair from Pramac. The guys did their job perfectly!

At the Valencia Grand Prix, Ducati pilots completely occupied the podium for the first time in history

Since Aragon, Quartararo no longer met Bagnaia one on one. The Frenchman managed to get away from his main competitor in Austin, but in the first race in Misano he tried to catch up with Pecco throughout the race. Then, the distance suddenly broke: in the last three races, Quartararo barely stayed in the TOP 5, while Bagnaia was confidently in the lead. The Valencia Grand Prix has never been too good for Ducati, but this year, as Quartararo put it, “Ricardo Tormo Circuit became 100% Ducati land.” All in all, Ducati and Bagnaia, as the new undisputed leader of the group, have taken a huge step forward this season. And they really did everything to beat Yamaha in the person of Quartararo. So the main intrigue for the 2022 season has already been planned.

The result of the MotoGP World Championship in the individual competition:

1. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) - 278 points 2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) - 252 3. Joan Mir (Suzuki) - 208 4. Jack Miller (Ducati) - 181 5. Joan Zarco (Ducati) - 173 6. Brad Binder (KTM) - 151 7. Marc Marquez (Honda) - 142 8. Ales Espargaro (Aprilia) - 120 9. Jorge Martin (Ducati) - 111 10. Maverick Viñales (Yamaha) - 106 11. Enea Bastianini (Ducati) - 102 12. Pol Espargaro (Honda) - 100 13. Alex Rins (Suzuki) - 99 14. Miguel Olivera (KTM) - 94 15. Takaaki Nakagami (Honda) - 76 ...

Jorge Martin is the top MotoGP rookie of 2022

The new recruits for 2022 were represented by three Ducati pilots who moved from Moto2: Jorge Martin joined Pramac, Luca Marini joined Sky Racing VR46, Enea Bastianini joined Esponsorama. Fourth was Lorenzo Savadori, who was hired by Aprilia, but the Italian could not cope with the pressure at the highest level of MotoGP: he only rode normally for 6-7 races, and then, being injured, was replaced.

The fight between Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini lasted until the last day. Martin was the first to master the Ducati Desmosedici, which he demonstrated with a breakthrough in testing in Qatar. The Doha Grand Prix, the second race at the Losail International Circuit, was a sensation: Martin took pole and fought for a place on the podium throughout the race, finishing 3rd on the podium behind the more experienced Joan Zarco. An injury received during training for the Portuguese Grand Prix knocked Martin out of his work plan for a month, he missed 4 races and lost many points. This slowed his progress, but then Martin returned to form and took his debut MotoGP win at the Styrian Grand Prix!

Jorge Martin took 4th pole position at the Valencia Grand Prix

Martin finished the season with 4 pole positions, 4 podiums and 1 victory. Bastianini revealed the essence of Ducati after the summer holidays, shooting the first result in Aragon (6th place). At Misano he reached the podium twice, earning the factory valuable points in the Manufacturers' Cup. Bastianini earned points on a more regular basis than Martin, but the podiums settled their dispute: Jorge finished the final in Valencia 2nd, battling for the victory with Pecco Bagnaia - and became Rookie of the Year 2022.

MotoGP Rookie standings:

1. Jorge Martin (Ducati) - 111 points 2. Enea Bastianini (Ducati) - 102 3. Luca Marini (Ducati) - 41 4. Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) - 4

The Ducati factory defended the Manufacturers' Cup won in 2022

It was a disappointing start to the season for Suzuki and 2022 MotoGP champion Joan Mira. In addition to the absence of a manager on the team, the person who united the team for the previous 8 years, it turned out that defending the title was much more difficult than taking it. The world has long tried to rebuild its mentality, become tougher and stop relying only on a good ride. He succeeded, but understanding came only in September, so the maximum he was able to achieve in such tough opposition to Yamaha and Ducati was only 3rd place.

Final position in the Manufacturers' Cup:

1. Ducati - 357 points 2. Yamaha - 309 3. Suzuki - 240 4. Honda - 214 5. KTM - 205 6. Aprilia - 121

Ducati clearly demonstrated that even such a unique person as Fabio Quartararo is not capable of being a warrior in the field against an army of rivals. When Corse realized that the individual title was slipping away, the strategy changed to capturing the Cup and the team title. After this, Quartararo found himself under intense pressure from the Ducati pilots. He had to contend with Miller, who was deployed to hold off the Frenchman. The “box” of Pramac teammates twice held back Yamaha in its attempts to break through to the TOP-3. Enea Bastianini harshly took the podium place from Quartararo in Misano at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Fabio rode through the last races, trying to “do what I can.” When Bagnaia and Miller finished 1-2 at the Algarve Grand Prix, it became abundantly clear that Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP would not retain the team title no matter how hard it tried.

Ducati Lenovo Team is the champion among MotoGP teams

Final standings in the MotoGP Team Championship:

1. Ducati Lenovo Team - 433 points 2. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP - 380 3. Team Suzuki Ecstar - 307 4. Pramac Racing - 288 5. Repsol Honda - 250 6. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 245 7. LCR Honda - 146 ...

Part 1 - Moto3

Part 2 - Moto2

Recommendations

Bibliography

• Marshall, Anne (1997). Guinness Book of Knowledge
  . Guinness Publishing. ISBN 0-85112-046-6.

General

• "Statistics; official MotoGP website. MotoGP. Retrieved November 13, 2009.

Specific

1. Marshall 1997, para 289
2. "Basics". MotoGP. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
3. "Story". MotoGP. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
4. "The 2010 Moto2 class will be powered by a Honda engine." MotoGP. May 2, 2009. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
5. "Rossi's ninth title win: statistics." MotoGP. October 26, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
6. "Winners" MotoGP. Retrieved November 13, 2011.