STATISTICS 2007 October, 17th #17 Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix Sepang MotoGP facts & figures History of Malaysian Grand Prix th n Yamaha have been the most succes- his will be the 17 Malaysian Grand Prix. The first was held in 1991 and the event has sful manufacturer in the premier-class Ttaken place every year since between three different venues; Shah Alam, Johor and at Sepang with 3 victories. Both Honda Sepang. and Suzuki have 2 wins each and Ducati have a single victory. 1991/Shah Alam – The first Malaysian Grand Prix saw a debut win in the premier-class for John Kocinski riding a Yamaha. Italian riders dominated the smaller classes with Luca Cadalora winning the 250cc race and Loris Capirossi the 125s. n Casey Stoner won the 125cc race at 1992/Shah Alam – Mick Doohan won the 500cc race by more than ten seconds from great rival Sepang in 2004 and the 250cc race in Wayne Rainey. Alex Criville finished 3rd – his first podium in the 500cc class in only his third start. 2005, making this the only circuit where Luca Cadalora repeated his victory of the previous year in the 250cc category, while the 125cc he had two victories prior to the start of race was won by Alessandro Gramigni on his way to becoming the first rider to win a world title this year. riding an Aprilia. 1993/Shah Alam – Wayne Rainey scored a clear start-to-finish victory in the 500cc race from n Valentino Rossi has finished on the po- Daryl Beattie and Kevin Schwantz. There was controversy in the 250cc race when six riders were dium at Sepang for the last 6 years, inclu- adjudged to have jumped the start and given a one minute penalty. The final result saw the first ding 4 victories. The last time that Rossi ever all-Japanese podium in the 250cc class with Nobuatsu Aoki scoring his only Grand Prix victory did not finish on the podium at Sepang from Tetsuya Harada and Tadayuki Okada. was his second ever race in the premier- 1994/Shah Alam – Mick Doohan took a comfortable victory by more than 5 seconds from John Ko- class in 2000, when he crashed out on cinski and Shinichi Itoh. Max Biaggi scored the first of four successive victories in the 250cc class. lap four while in second place. 1995/Shah Alam – Mick Doohan took his third victory in Malaysia from fellow Australian Daryl Beattie. Garry McCoy had his first ever Grand Prix victory in the 125cc class for which he was n Dani Pedrosa has had 2 victories in the awarded half points due to the race being stopped after twelve laps when it started to rain. smaller classes at Sepang; in the 125cc 1996/Shah Alam – Luca Cadalora won the opening 500cc race of the year on his debut riding a class in 2003 and in the 250cc class in Honda prepared by Erv Kanemoto, after Tady Okada had claimed pole position on the debut of the 2004. Pedrosa finished 3rd in the MotoGP V-twin Honda 500cc two-stroke. race last year after a nasty crash during 1997/Shah Alam – This was the seventh and final visit to the Shah Alam circuit and both Mick practice left him with a number of injuries Doohan and Max Biaggi won for the fourth time in their respective classes. Valentino Rossi won the including a broken toe. 125cc race on his way to taking his first world title. 1998/Johor – The one and only visit by the Grand Prix riders to the Johor circuit resulted in another victory for Mick Doohan on his way to the last of his five world titles. 1999/Sepang – On the first outing at Sepang Kenny Roberts won on his debut on the factory Su- zuki. Loris Capirossi started the defence of his 250cc title with a narrow victory from Tohru Ukawa. Current Bridgestone engineer Masao Azuma won the 125cc race riding a Honda with Bridgestone tyres. 2000/Sepang – Kenny Roberts repeated his victory of the previous year on his way to taking the 500cc world title. 2001/Sepang – Valentino Rossi won the last 500cc race to be held at the Sepang circuit. Daijiro Kato took the victory in the 250cc class to clinch the world title. 2002/Sepang – Max Biaggi riding a Yamaha won the first race at Sepang of the four-stroke Moto- GP era from great rival Rossi. 2003/Sepang – Valentino Rossi riding a Honda won the MotoGP race to clinch his third premier- class title. Dani Pedrosa won the 125cc race to take his first world championship at the age of 18. 2004/Sepang – Valentino Rossi repeated the victory of the previous year but this time on a Yama- n If either Casey Stoner or Dani Pedrosa ha. Andrea Dovizioso clinched the world title by finishing second in the 125cc race behind Casey wins in Malaysia they will become the Stoner who scored the first ever Grand prix victory for KTM. first rider to win in all three classes at the 2005/Sepang - Loris Capirossi won the race with team-mate Carlos Checa finishing 3rd – the first Sepang circuit. time that Ducati had two riders on a MotoGP podium. Valentino Rossi finished 2nd to clinch his fifth world title in the premier-class. Casey Stoner won the 250cc race after championship leader Dani n John Hopkins’ 6th place finish last Pedrosa had crashed on lap 2. year is his best result at Sepang. This is 2006/Sepang – Valentino Rossi took the victory after a race-long battle with Loris Capirossi. The grid positions had been decided by the times in the free-practice sessions after torrential rain had also the best result for the four-stroke Su- flooded the circuit causing the MotoGP qualifying session to be cancelled. zuki MotoGP machine in Malaysia. n Chris Vermeulen went faster in the race last year than he had during quali- fying when he had been suffering from a flu virus. n Sepang is one of only two circuits in the current GP calendar that Marco Melandri has not had a podium finish in any class of GP racing, the other being Misano. Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines 1 STATISTICS 2007 October, 17th #17 Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix Sepang n Loris Capirossi has had considera- 9th win of year for Casey Stoner ble success at Sepang, having won the asey Stoner’s win at Phillip Island was the 9th time this year that he has stood on 250cc race on the first visit to the circuit the top step of the podium. This ranks him alongside some of the all-time greats of in 1999, finishing 2nd in the 500cc race C Grand Prix racing in the following list of riders who have had most wins in a single season in 2001 after qualifying on pole, winning in the premier-class. The other three riders who appear on this list are all multi-world in 2005 after again having qualified on champions; Mick Doohan, Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi. pole and finishing 2nd last year after a race long battle with Rossi. Capirossi has NUMBER OF WINS IN THE PREMIER-CLASS IN A SINGLE SEASON taken 93 points over the last 6 races and 12 Mick Doohan – 1997 has only been outscored over this period 11 Giacomo Agostini - 1972 by team-mate Stoner. Valentino Rossi – 2001, 2002 and 2005 10 Giacomo Agostini – 1968, 1969 and 1970 n Colin Edwards has had a tough time 9 Mick Doohan – 1994 on his previous four visits to Sepang with Valentino Rossi – 2003 and 2004 the best result of 10th in both 2005 and Casey Stoner - 2007 2006. n Nicky Hayden has finished 4th on each of his 4 previous visits to the Sepang cir- Casey Stoner moves above Eddie Lawson cuit. aving now had 9 MotoGP victories from his 32 starts Casey Stoner has achieved a Hwin rate that places him 6th in the following list of riders from the “modern era” of n Alex Barros has twice finished 3rd at Grand Prix racing (since 1975), above four times world champion Eddie Lawson. A victory Sepang; in 2005 and 2002 when he also in Malaysia would move him up another place in this list above three times champion qualified on pole position on only his Wayne Rainey. second outing on the four-stroke Honda This list is still headed by Valentino Rossi, although this season his career win-rate has MotoGP machine. Barros will celebrate fallen below 50%. his 37th birthday the day before practice starts for the Malaysian GP. CAREER WINNING PERCENTAGE IN MOTOGP/500CC CLASS Rider Starts Wins Winning % 1. Valentino Rossi 130 62 47.7 2. Mick Doohan 137 54 39.4 3. Kenny Roberts (Snr) 58 22 37.9 4. Freddie Spencer 62 20 32.3 5. Wayne Rainey 83 24 28.9 6. Casey Stoner 32 9 28.1 7. Eddie Lawson 127 31 24.4 8. Kevin Schwantz 104 25 24.0 9. Barry Sheene 98 19 19.4 10. Wayne Gardner 102 18 17.6 n Toni Elias had 3 podium finishes at Sepang when riding in the 250cc class, including a win in 2003 after qualifying on pole position and also setting a new lap record. n Shinya Nakano won the 250cc GP at Sepang in 2000 on his way to finishing 2nd in the championship. Nakano’s 8th place finish in Malaysia in 2004 is the best result by a Kawasaki rider at the Sepang circuit. 2 STATISTICS 2007 October, 17th #17 Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix Sepang n Sepang is one of only two circuits at Valentino Rossi set for a century of podium finishes which Carlos Checa has had 3 podium alentino Rossi’s third place in Australia was the 99th occasion on which he has stood finishes, the other being his home circuit on the podium in the premier-class.