Because the paddock heads to France for the fifth spherical of the 2023 season, it would mark a significant milestone on the planet championship’s historical past.
At some of the iconic venues in all of motorsport, Le Mans will play host to the 1000th grand prix occasion in world championship bike racing, which first started again in 1949 on the Isle of Man.
By way of that point, a lot has modified about grand prix bike racing, however the timeline has been suffering from numerous legendary moments.
As a part of Motorsport.com’s 1000th MotoGP celebrations, we requested our writers to select a few of their favorite races.
Sito Pons gained an exhilarating 250cc race towards Joan Garriga in Sweden, securing him his first world title
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1988 250cc Swedish Grand Prix: Love at first sight - German Garcia Casanova
Probably the 250cc race of the 1988 Swedish GP is just not among the many greatest in historical past by far, however on 14 August, 35 years in the past, I’ll always remember it.
I had heard about Angel Nieto, Ricardo Tormo and Jorge Martinez Aspar, however my curiosity for motorcycling was woke up once I learn that two younger Catalan riders, Sito Pons and Joan Garriga, had been combating for the 250cc world championship that 12 months, and that sparks had been flying between them.
That Sunday I sat in entrance of a tv, for the primary time in my life, to look at a bike race. The battle between Pons (Honda) and Garriga (Yamaha), was probably the most intense I had seen till then, passes, overtaking, crossed bikes, open elbows, parallel curves.
Anderstorp was an previous and rickety circuit that used the runway of an airport as an extended straight, whereas the twisty space was tight and technical. On the straight, Pons was blasting by Garriga, who was catching him within the corners.
On the penultimate lap, after each had been very shut throughout the entire race, the culminating second arrived: Pons made a transfer on Garriga, the bikes touched, the Yamaha rider went a bit of lengthy and the blue Honda with the Campsa colors headed for the end line in quest of what can be, ultimately, the primary 250cc world championship for Pons.
Jorge Lorenzo’s first victory in grand prix racing got here in thrilling circumstances in Brazil in 2003
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2003 125cc Brazilian Grand Prix: The beginnings of a grand prix legend – Alberto Gomez
The Nelson Piquet circuit, bustling with tropical warmth and weird humidity, performed host to a superb 125cc race in 2003.
Among the many riders had been illustrious names like Dani Pedrosa, Alex De Angelis, Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner. On account of excessive climate circumstances, it was not potential to race alone. Slipstreams and the necessity to cool the bikes would have mitigated any loopy journey.
It was a day that might gas a loopy race, Jorge Lorenzo’s 26th within the class. He had entered the championship a 12 months earlier because the youngest in historical past. Derbi hadn’t gained in two seasons. However there was no stopping the Mallorcan.
In the previous couple of laps, overtaking came about in a gaggle of excellent high quality. The Derbi was not one of the best bike to battle with. Regardless of not having a superb season (he completed sixth), Lorenzo put in all the pieces the crimson and inexperienced bike wanted into the race.
On a wild final lap, he pulled off a double overtake on Pedrosa and Stoner on the surface, revealing the braveness of a fearless rider.
Making the most of slipstreams on the again straight, Lorenzo prevailed in a decent and hectic race wherein the primary six completed inside zero.089s of one another. Lorenzo revealed his champion genetics to the world, and the favored ‘Por fuera’ was born.
Valentino Rossi’s legend continued in South Africa in 2004 when he gained on his Yamaha debut, months after an acrimonious break up with Honda
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2004 MotoGP South African GP: Rossi proves a degree to his former paymaster - Alberto Gomez
The Welkom circuit 150km outdoors Bloemfontein, dotted with gold mines, opened the 2004 MotoGP season. Valentino Rossi was on observe prepared for battle and aiming for a brand new title.
The duty wouldn’t be simple. A couple of months earlier, Rossi had determined to go away the HRC manufacturing unit and commenced, considerably spitefully, a radically completely different story by signing a contract with Honda’s bitter enemy Yamaha.
The Japanese model, which had not gained a championship since 1992, guess all the pieces on the Italian, who reneged on Honda when its prime brass declared the bike was extra necessary than the rider in feedback that diminished Rossi’s expertise.
Due to that affront and his subsequent departure, 2004 opened with depth and feelings. And South Africa concentrated these feelings in a historic race wherein the person from Tavullia got here head to head together with his arch rival Max Biaggi on the Pons-run Honda. The one-on-one between the 2 compatriots was settled by Rossi in a unprecedented last lap.
As soon as Rossi had taken the chequered flag, he sat close to the blue M1, kissed its windshield, and devoted a couple of phrases of unconditional like to it. Those self same phrases he repeated years later when he left Yamaha for Ducati in 2011.
Rossi’s revenge on Honda marked a earlier than and after within the historical past of contemporary motorcycling, declaring it ‘Il mio grande capolavoro’- ‘my greatest masterpiece on bikes’.
Toni Elias beat Valentino Rossi on the road within the closest MotoGP end in historical past for his first and solely premier class victory
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2006 MotoGP Portuguese GP: A championship-defining second by an unlikely determine – German Garcia Casanova
The 2006 Estoril race was, in my view, some of the spectacular in historical past, for what was seen on observe and for what it meant.
Crucial photograph of that Sunday was the accident between the rookie Dani Pedrosa and the championship chief Nicky Hayden, each from the official Honda staff. That crash left the American just about with out a crown, desolate on the gravel, whereas Valentino Rossi was main the race in pursuit of a sixth premier class world championship title.
Nonetheless out of nowhere emerged a small however combative Toni Elias, in one of the best efficiency of his profession. He snatched his first and final victory in MotoGP on the road to deduct 5 factors from Rossi, second on the end.
The Italian led 25 of the 28 laps of the race, however in an sudden finish, he was stunned by Elias, who took the victory with a satellite tv for pc Honda by zero.02s. In the long run, these factors had been decisive for Hayden to regain the lead within the following race, the final of the season, in Valencia, and win the world championship by that margin of 5 factors after a shock crash for Rossi.
Rossi made an epic transfer on Stoner on the Corkscrew to win the 2008 US GP
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2008 MotoGP United States GP: Rossi takes to the grime to make Stoner eat it – Alberto Gomez
It had been a nightmare for the Yamaha staff throughout observe periods. There was nobody who may come near Casey Stoner’s tempo.
On a observe by means of which he appeared to levitate, the Australian rode his Ducati with smugness and ease. At Laguna Seca, neither Rossi nor Lorenzo may match the occasions of the Australian, who began as a terrific favorite to win.
Throughout Saturday night, Rossi frolicked together with his crew looking for a potion that might allow him to match up together with his opponent. However nothing made sense earlier than an exuberant pairing just like the one shaped by Stoner and Ducati on that arid and difficult observe. To Rossi, it was solely helpful as a ploy to hassle the Ducati rider as a lot as potential, in order that it will make a solo race unimaginable for him.
As quickly because the grand prix started, Rossi centered solely on Stoner. Each inside and outdoors, the Italian rider was closing gaps, however Stoner didn’t surrender.
As each overtook each other successively, the tone of the race was rising. It was not till the fourth lap that each riders reached an unbelievable degree of competitors. After flying over the grime on the infamous ‘Corkscrew’, Rossi returned to the observe in entrance, virtually taking Stoner out.
Years later, it was revealed that what appeared to be a manoeuvre pressured by circumstances was, actually, a deliberate overtake, Rossi impressed by a transfer made by Alex Zanardi in a 1996 Indycar race. Stoner finally crashed making an attempt to reclaim the lead from Rossi, whereas the latter returned to the Corkscrew after the race to kiss the gravel.
Rossi pulled one among MotoGP’s most iconic overtakes on the final nook of the 2009 Catalan GP to steal victory from Lorenzo
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2009 MotoGP Catalan GP: A duel for the ages – Oriol Puigdemont
A 12 months after bursting onto the MotoGP scene as Valentino Rossi’s team-mate, the good dominator of the last decade, Jorge Lorenzo pressured the Italian to be at his greatest.
Stress had settled within the Yamaha storage after Rossi determined to change to Bridgestone tyres, a circumstance that pressured a wall to be erected between the 2 sides of the field with Lorenzo nonetheless on Michelins.
On the 2009 Catalan GP, it was confirmed that Yamaha had introduced collectively probably the most highly effective pair of the second, and doubtless within the historical past of the championship.
In an trade of blows based mostly on manoeuvres to the restrict of physics, Rossi pulled out a cartoon trick to overhaul his opponent within the penultimate nook, a degree the place nobody, not even Lorenzo, imagined it was potential to overhaul.
The Mallorcan’s face as soon as the race was over was a combination of disbelief and anger, whereas Rossi’s solely projected euphoria. Logical, if we keep in mind that the grand prix not solely represented a triumph and factors scored, but additionally a win throughout the hierarchy at Yamaha.
The #46 would go on to win the 2009 title, earlier than Lorenzo gained in 2010, by a combination of expertise and stubbornness, and took over the reins at Yamaha.
Marquez ‘pulls a Rossi’ and overtakes the Yamaha rider on the Corkscrew in 2013 in a way paying homage to Rossi on Stoner in 2008
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2013 MotoGP United States GP: A brand new risk exhibits how effectively he is studied the playbook – Oriol Puigdemont
That Sunday was the day Valentino Rossi acquired to know the true dimension of Marc Marquez, a younger rookie who till that second had proven to own extraordinary abilities and an insatiable voracity within the smaller courses.
It was the fourth lap of a race led by poleman Stefan Bradl at Laguna Seca in 2013 when Marquez determined to go on the assault.
In a beneficiant show of the selflessness that characterises him, the child from Cervera gave Rossi the identical medication he had given Casey Stoner 5 years earlier with a well-known manoeuvre on the Corkscrew, probably the most emblematic level of Laguna Seca.
Simply as Rossi had completed with the Australian in 2008, the Honda rider went onto the grime to win the place from the Yamaha rider earlier than dispatching Bradl and taking his third victory in MotoGP.
With that episode, Marquez despatched an unequivocal message to the world. He had dared to do to Rossi the type of methods that he was identified for inflicting on others.
The following scene of the 2 in parc ferme, with Rossi grabbing the Catalan by the neck and pretending to strangle him, will stay within the reminiscence as among the finest pictures of a rivalry that, sadly, two years later took a way more swampy course.
Chicken strikes, overtakes a lots, last-lap victory, long-lasting controversy – Australia 2015 was a wild experience
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2015 MotoGP Australian GP: Onlookers indulge in wild experience… one will get too shut – Haydn Cobb
For the fashionable MotoGP period, there’s no different possibility than the 2015 Australian GP at Phillip Island. Finest observe? Tick. Finest riders? Tick. Fights for the lead all through and a final-lap overtake for victory? Tick.
The adored Australian observe acted as a real leveller between main producers Honda, Yamaha and Ducati with completely different sections of the structure suiting completely different marques. It is also a venue the place pack races are frequent, with riders trying to protect tyre life on the abrasive floor.
It culminated in a four-rider victory battle all through between Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Iannone, all break up by only one second on the chequered flag. With breath-taking motion and gorgeous overtakes – and even Iannone headbutting an unlucky seagull – the dynamic developed into legendary standing with every lap, with all 4 arguably on the peak of their respective powers in grand prix racing.
The racing was fierce however truthful and Marquez’s last lap to tear from third to first, setting the quickest lap, stays one of many best of all time as he took victory from Lorenzo whereas Iannone pipped Rossi for the rostrum.
It was a scarcely plausible race, however Rossi felt underhand techniques had been at play. Having let his emotions fester he unleashed an assault on Marquez and Lorenzo, accusing the Honda rider of conspiracy to assist his countryman within the all-Yamaha title battle. The spat went nuclear on the subsequent race when the duo collided in Sepang – and MotoGP would by no means be the identical once more.
Lorenzo snatched victory from Marquez on the road in an exhilarating Mugello race in 2016 – a lot to the annoyance of the partisan Italian crowd
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2016 MotoGP Italian GP: Lorenzo snatches win from Marquez’s grasp – German Garcia Casanova
After all of the controversy created across the decision of the 2015 world championship, MotoGP staged its first occasion on Valentino Rossi’s residence turf with the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.
The environment on the Tuscan observe was hellish for Jorge Lorenzo and, above all, for Marc Marquez, an animosity towards the riders that had by no means earlier than been skilled on a bike circuit following the controversial finish to 2015 between the 2 Spaniards and Rossi.
That Sunday the Italian followers hoped for a victory of their idol Rossi over the 2 Spanish ‘enemies’. Nonetheless, in a vibrant and intense race, fortune deserted the #46, whose engine broke after finishing the primary eight laps in second place caught to the tail of Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo.
Marquez took over from Rossi within the chase, getting into right into a spectacular, electrifying battle wherein Lorenzo and Marquez handed and re-passed one another on quite a few events. As the ultimate lap started, we reached it with the understanding that Marquez knew precisely the place on the circuit he needed to cross Lorenzo, block him and take the victory.
He did so into the on the Flip 13/14 chicane and it appeared that he succeeded, arriving in entrance coming into the ultimate nook. The Honda was far more highly effective than the Yamaha, which was extra versatile and agile within the corners.
The victory of the #93 appeared so assured that every one the members of Marquez’s staff climbed the wall of the ending straight to applaud their profitable rider. Nonetheless, the ‘fragile’ engine of Lorenzo’s M1, which had damaged within the morning warm-up, and within the race with Rossi, determined to be the protagonist and gave its final breath on the lengthy straight of Mugello, beating the Honda by zero.zero19 seconds over the end line.
The 2018 Dutch TT was determined after 100+ overtakes throughout 26 laps
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2018 MotoGP Dutch TT: Like overtakes? Have 100 of them… – Lewis Duncan
Of the entire 1000 grand prix occasions in world championship historical past since 1949, the Dutch TT at Assen has featured probably the most of any. Assen is named the cathedral of bike racing, and whereas it might not look even remotely much like the way it did again in 1949, it stays an epic.
Assen has been the scene of a few of MotoGP best races, however the 2018 Dutch TT certainly usurps all of them. There have been over 100 overtakes throughout a 26-lap race and 7 riders battling for the victory all the way down to the wire.
There have been daring overtakes all around the present, contact between Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi that by some means didn’t finish in catastrophe, and a wild save from Marc Marquez popping out of the Flip 5 hairpin that he had completely no proper in making.
It was a really breathless 45 minutes that finally went the best way of Marquez, the cream rising firmly to the highest regardless of the circumstances. It’s races like Assen 2018 that make every go to to the Dutch venue particular.
Simply zero.013s break up Alex Rins and Marc Marquez on the end line of this Silverstone epic in 2019
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2019 MotoGP British GP: Marquez will get Rinsed in Silverstone thriller – Lewis Duncan
It speaks volumes concerning the high quality of MotoGP now that so many entries on this listing are modern-era ones. Dorna Sports activities’ efforts to tighten the sphere during the last 10 years has led to among the greatest racing we’ve ever seen.
The 2019 British Grand Prix is one such instance. Following one other epic duel between Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso on the earlier spherical in Austria, the paddock was abuzz as MotoGP basked in its halcyon interval.
Little did we all know after we arrived at Silverstone to start out the weekend that we’d witness a grand prix that might be determined by simply zero.013s. Going up towards Marc Marquez isn’t any small activity, but it surely was one Alex Rins took in his stride because the Suzuki beneath him labored brilliantly round Silverstone’s flowing turns.
Whereas it’s typically forgotten that Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales was very a lot an element on this battle, the race finally ended as a head-to-head between Rins and Marquez. Piling the strain on, Rins got here near crashing at Vale within the latter levels as he misplaced the entrance finish. He shortly recovered from this, although, and was hounding Marquez as they started the ultimate lap.
A failed try at slingshotting previous across the outdoors of Woodcote put Rins off observe and allowed Marquez to carry the lead into Copse. A defensive final lap saved the Honda in entrance as they headed onto the Wellington Straight for the ultimate time.
Marquez was tight by means of Brooklands and Luffield, Rins barely wider to get a greater run out of the hairpin. Marquez went into Woodcote first, however had the smallest of actions on his Honda which killed a couple of mph from his run and allowed Rins to slice up the within to attain probably the most memorable win of his profession to this point.
Whereas it didn’t characteristic any British names, the battle was paying homage to the epic 1979 Silverstone duel between Barry Sheene and Kenny Roberts. Sheene, on a Suzuki, misplaced narrowly after making an attempt an overtake on the run to the road on the surface of Woodcote. Thus, in a method, the style of Rins’ win made amends for Suzuki’s defeat 40 years prior.
An emotional championship win for Joan Mir at Valencia in 2020 ended a 20-year watch for Suzuki. The producer’s demise on the finish of 2022 additional places this achievement into perspective
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2020 MotoGP Valencia GP: A dream realised – Alberto Gomez
It was 15 November, 2020. Nonetheless carrying their masks to keep away from the cursed COVID-19, leaning over the fences that missed the beginning/end straight, the members of the manufacturing unit Suzuki staff had been celebrating a historic occasion, an unthinkable feat a couple of months earlier.
It was the consecration of a dream: that of Joan Mir profitable his first MotoGP world title. Suzuki, on the identical time, was celebrating in an exorbitant method an ideal world championship. It squared the centenary of Suzuki Motor Company, based in 1920, and the 60th anniversary of Suzuki within the grand prix world championship – and all 20 years after the final crown with Kenny Roberts Jr.
The script of that 12 months had begun twisted with the outbreak of a silent and ghostly adversary as COVID pressured the world into shutdown and introduced a stark new actuality.
On that day in Valencia, perched on the fence, the feelings overflowed over the blue masks. It was an exorcism that introduced out the fears and complexes of a small manufacturing unit staff that had been handcrafted by Davide Brivio to achieve, with out a lot noise, excellence.
Valencia, the race that licensed Mir’s coronation, was not an impressive race however the shortest and most secure strategy to win a title in a 12 months stuffed with shocks. Mir didn’t fail and, because of a conservative technique, was capable of full a joint dream. Seventh, per week after securing his first MotoGP win on the identical venue, did not matter.
Crucial factor was an indication that a smaller staff with fewer sources may stand as much as the large producers and win. A superb bike and a younger rider, an outsider with a stable and constant problem, may annihilate the hopes of larger rivals like Yamaha, Honda or Ducati, in an anomalous world championship the place some tracks staged two races as a result of logistical points posed by the pandemic.
The final days, these previous to the end result, had been days of concern and contagion. Many mechanics and engineers of various groups had been pressured into isolation as a result of constructive COVID assessments. The necessary factor, past the observe occasions, was to guard themselves. Suzuki and Mir knew this. And they didn’t fail.
Brad Binder took a bet on slicks because the Purple Bull Ring acquired moist, and emerged with a surprising win in 2021
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2021 MotoGP Austrian GP: Who wants moist tyres? - Megan White
So far as first races go, it was a reasonably good one to decide on. Having learn loads of MotoGP studies however by no means watched a race, I settled down to look at the lights go inexperienced for the 2021 Austrian GP.
With the collection having additionally raced at Spielberg the earlier weekend, there was no cause to assume this may be a spectacular contest. However that was earlier than the climate had begun to issue.
Rain spots began to seem on the Purple Bull Ring because the race acquired going, earlier than the rain flags had been waved on lap eight. Circumstances solely worsened because the grand prix went on and by lap 22, the heavens had really opened.
Earlier than the rain, the main trio of Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo and Marc Marquez had damaged away from the pack. However because the tempo dropped and the observe turned more and more soaked, many opted to swap bikes, with the highest three stopping with three laps remaining.
Not Brad Binder although. The KTM man took a courageous gamble to stay together with his slicks, and it proved to be essential, if not completely bonkers. Chaos ensued during the last lap, and even Valentino Rossi – who had introduced his retirement on the earlier spherical – was in with a shot on the podium at one stage.
No-one was a match for Binder, and he miraculously saved his bike upright, regardless of a couple of severe wobbles, to take his second MotoGP win. It was a really astonishing race, and one which can be lengthy remembered for its dramatic last three laps.
After the motion, I requested if races had been at all times like this, and was assured that was not the case. For this author although, it is going to be remembered because the race which began an everlasting love of MotoGP.
MotoGP has been thrilling followers for 999 world championship occasions – this is to the subsequent 999!
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