MotoGP has shared list of stats that were broken and created in 2023 season along with the milestones that were set at different races.
15 riders, 60 podiums
The golden era continues: in 2023, 15 riders – 68.2% of the full-time grid – finished on the Grand Prix podium, equalling the record since the introduction of MotoGP in 2002, which was set in 2020 and 2021.
Prosecco for all!
Every manufacturer has been on the Grand Prix podium in 2023 and three of them have won Grand Prix races. KTM did not win a Grand Prix, but won two Tissot Sprints.
Independent Power
Prima Pramac Racing clinched the MotoGP Teams’ Championship, becoming the first Independent Team to take the crown in the MotoGP era. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) won the fight for the best Independent Team rider, too.
There have been 10 wins for Independent Teams in 2023: four for Martin, three for Marco Bezzecchi and one each for Alex Rins, Johann Zarco and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Before 2023, there had only been two events in the MotoGP era where Independent Teams locked out the GP podium: Qatar 2004 and Portugal 2020. This season, it happened twice in just one year: Argentina with Bezzecchi winning from Zarco and Alex Marquez, and France with Bezzecchi, this time ahead of Martin and Zarco.
Ducati set a record
The win for Bagnaia in Valencia was the 17th for Ducati in 2023 which is a new record for the most wins in a single premier class season by the same manufacturer. With Bagnaia and Zarco on the podium too, Ducati is now on a streak of 46 MotoGP™ Grand Prix races in a row with at least one rider on the podium.
The Sprint specialists
2023 MotoGP runner-up Martin is the rider with most Sprint wins this season with nine, ahead of Bagnaia (4), Brad Binder and Alex Marquez with two each, and Bezzecchi and Aleix Espargaro with one each. Martin is the only rider who has scored points in every Sprint (19 Sprints), including 14 podiums.
Milestone moments:
Portuguese GP: A. Espargaro made his 218th premier class start to move into fourth on the all-time list. He equalled MotoGP Legends Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden and has since pulled ahead of both – although Pedrosa added two more with wildcards in Jerez and Misano. Valentino Rossi leads the way with 372 premier class starts, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (248) and Alex Barros (245), with Aleix fourth on 237.
Argentina GP: Bezzecchi took his maiden premier class win. At that time, there were eight riders who hadn’t won a premier class GP: head Down Under for more on more maiden winners in 2023…
Americas GP: Rins became the eighth rider to win with two factories in the MotoGP era along with Jack Miller, Andrea Dovizioso, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Viñales, Max Biaggi and Valentino Rossi.
Spanish GP: Bagnaia equalled Max Biaggi in fourth on the list of Italians with most premier class wins.
French GP: Le Mans broke MotoGP’s all-time event attendance record with 278,805 spectators across the GP.
Italian GP: Bagnaia became the first rider to do the “Grand Slam” (set pole, the fastest lap, lead across the line on every lap and win the race) since he himself did it last year at the Spanish GP.
German GP: The 233,196 crowds across the event was the biggest ever at the Sachsenring and made the German GP the highest attended single sporting event in Germany.
Dutch TT: Bagnaia took his 15th MotoGP win at the Dutch TT and equalled Andrea Dovizioso in third on the list of Italians with most premier class wins. Valentino Rossi leads on 89, ahead of Giacomo Agostini on 68.
British GP: Aleix Espargaro became the ninth different winner in the last nine MotoGP races held at Silverstone following Lorenzo (2013), Marquez (2014), Rossi (2015), Viñales (2016), Dovizioso (2017), Rins (2019), Quartararo (2021) and Bagnaia (2022).
David Alonso took his maiden win in Moto3, becoming the first Colombian rider to win in Grand Prix racing. Colombia became the 13th different nationalities to win in the class (the 30th in GP racing).
Austrian GP: Bagnaia won the GP race to become the third most successful Italian riders in the premier class. This was also his 50th podium of his Grand Prix career. And he did the double Grand Slam – the super Slam? – with pole, the fastest lap in the Sprint and GP race, and won both races.
Catalan GP: A. Espargaro took his third MotoGP win and his third GP win of his career along with the 2022 Argentina GP and the 2023 British GP. This was Aprilia’s third win in the premier class.
San Marino GP: KTM wildcard and MotoGP Legend Dani Pedrosa made some history, finishing P4 for the best result for a wildcard in a dry race in the entire MotoGP era. The other comparable results were all in the wet: Akira Ryo was on the podium at Suzuka in 2002 in the rain, and fellow wildcard Shinichi Itoh was P4. Michele Pirro was fourth at Valencia in 2018, also in the wet.
Indian GP: Bezzecchi took his first “Grand Slam”. Bagnaia is the only other rider who did it in 2023, twice: Italy and Austria.
Japanese GP: Marc Marquez finished third and moved above MotoGP Legend Angel Nieto into fifth on the list of the riders with most GP podiums on 140, behind Jorge Lorenzo in fourth on 152.
Indonesian GP: Bagnaia won after qualifying 13th, becoming the first rider to win a dry MotoGP race after qualifying from 12th (or below) since the 2006 Turkish GP when Marco Melandri won after qualifying 14th. The win at the Indonesian GP was also the 500th victory for a rider on Michelins in the premier class.
Australian GP: Zarco became the second maiden premier class winner of 2023 and the fifth French winner in the class, along with Quartararo (11 wins), Régis Laconi (1), Christian Sarron (1) and Pierre Monneret (1). He also gave the honour of being the rider with most premier class podiums without a win back to Colin Edwards, who has 12. For more on maiden winners, see Qatar…
Thai GP: With 0.253s between Martin and Bagnaia, who crossed the line in P3 before being promoted to P2, this is the fourth-closest premier class podium of all-time in a full-length race. The only closer podiums were Phillip Island 1999 (0.124s between Tadayuki Okada, Max Biaggi and Régis Laconi), Estoril 2006 (0.176s between (Toni Elias, Valentino Rossi and Kenny Roberts Jr) and Phillip Island 2022 (0.224s between Alex Rins, Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia).
Raul Fernandez finished 15th just 15.093s behind winner Martin, equalling the second-closest top 15 of all-time from Qatar 2019. Only Doha 2021 was closer (8.928s).
Malaysian GP: Bastianini took his fifth MotoGP win, and his first since Aragon last year. All are with Ducati. He is now tied in fifth on the list of Ducati riders with most wins with Martin, with two wins less than Loris Capirossi.
Qatar GP: Di Giannantonio became the third maiden premier class winner of the season, and the 12th since the opening race of 2020 along with Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder, Miguel Oliveira, Franco Morbidelli, Joan Mir, Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, Aleix Espargaro, Marco Bezzecchi and Johann Zarco.
Di Giannantonio became the sixth different Ducati winner so far this season, setting a record of the most different winners with the same manufacturer in a single premier class season.
Valencia GP: After the Championship fight went to the wire in 2022, 2023 doing the same meant Valencia marked the first time in the MotoGP era that the World Championship was decided at the finale two seasons in a row.
There have been no back-to-back GP race winners in 2023. This season becomes the first since the very first season in 1949 with no riders achieving back-to-back victories.Almost 3 million people attended MotoGP events in 2023 (total of all 3 days in all circuits*). It’s one of the top three best-attended seasons ever, and the first half of the season set a new record attendance with 1.6 million fans flocking through the gates.
[Note: The story is as per press release]
