Ducati in Mugello
– Andrea Dovizioso won the Italian Grand Prix last year. It was the first of his 6 victories of the 2017 season. The win saw the start of the fight for the title he went close to winning.
– Ducati has two victories at Mugello, the last one by Dovizioso a year ago, and of course the challenging 2009 race which Casey Stoner won after the field had to change motorcycles after a wet race dried out.
– Danilo Petrucci was third in the race here last year, with Dovizioso next to him on the podium. It was the first time that two Ducatis have ever been on the podium in the Italian Grand Prix.
– Ducati has a total of 10 podiums at Mugello: Loris Capirossi (2003, 2005 and 2006), Alex Barros (2007), Casey Stoner (2008 and 2009), Andrea Iannone (2015 and 2016), Andrea Dovizioso (2017) and Danilo Petrucci (2017).
– Lorenzo has won five of the last seven races held at Mugello (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016), making him the most recent dominator of the Italian track. Jorge also won in 250cc, bringing the total number of wins at Mugello to six.
– Last year, Lorenzo led a race on a Ducati for the first time. Since then, there have been 10 GPs in which he has led with the Desmosedici during the course of the race: In 2017 at Mugello, Montmeló, Red Bull Ring, Misano, Aragon, Motegi and Sepang, and this year in Jerez and Le Mans.
– Dovizioso finished second in the 2011 GP after overtaking Casey Stoner on the last lap.
– In 2004 Dovizioso was leading after the last corner when a rear wheel slide nearly brought him to the ground. Andrea saved the crash but lost the race.
– In all the races Dovizioso has run in Italy he has always been in the leading group.
– 19 thousandths of a second is the tiny difference with which Lorenzo beat Márquez in the 2016 race. It is the tightest MotoGP victory at the Mugello circuit.
– Ducati clocked in at 354.9 km/h in the 2016 race. It’s the highest speed reached during a GP, surpassing the previous record of 350.8 km/h, which Ducati also set. Mugello is the circuit in the calendar, where the highest top speed is recorded.
– In 12 of the 15 times that Ducati has competed in Mugello, it has obtained top speed in the race.
– Last year, five Ducatis (Pirro, Lorenzo, Petrucci, Bautista and Dovizioso) had the top five top speeds during the race.
– The fastest recorded lap at Mugello is 1’46.489, achieved by Iannone on a Ducati in 2015, a lap that gave him the pole position in that race.
– Lorenzo crashed when he was heading to the starting grid in 2009, where he started from pole position. Despite the mishap, he finished second in the race.
– Lorenzo’s slogan “Por Fuera”, which is on both his helmet and bike, was used for the first time at the 2004 Italian Grand Prix. It refers to the impossible outside passes he made in corners.
– In the 2005 Mugello race, Lorenzo made his first pole position in the 250cc category and also his first podium in that class.
Curiosities
– 32 GPs have been held at Mugello since it was inaugurated in 1976 and it is the only circuit that has never changed its layout since its origins.
– The Mugello race has been a fixed date on the calendar ever since 1991. Along with Assen and Jerez, it is the only track that has always hosted a World Championship event for 28 years.
– It has a very technical layout, where it only reaches speeds below 100 km/h in the corner at the end of the straight, and where the highest speeds of the whole Championship are reached, exceeding 350 km/h. Along with the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Phillip Island, these four tracks are the only ones where the average speed is above 170 km/h.
– At 1,141 meters, the Mugello front straight is the longest of the entire Championship, and the second absolute longest straight of all, second only to the back straight of Austin.
– The riders approach six braking points at more than 230 km/h at Mugello.
– At Mugello the riders are on the brakes for over 19% of each lap.
– The hardest braking is done at the end of the straight, where riders go from 351 km/h to 91 km/h in 5.6 seconds, over a distance of 318 meters. It is the fourth strongest braking of the Championship, behind the United States, Argentina and Malaysia.
– The straight to the finish line is the place where the most overtaking happens. Another overtaking point is the change of direction between Casanova and Savelli, and under braking for the Correntaio corner, where Lorenzo overtook Márquez in the 2014 GP.
– The 2004 Italian Grand Prix was the shortest MotoGP race in history, where only 31.47 km were covered due to rain interrupting the race and a second start given after only six laps.
– The Ducati grandstand is located at the Correntaio corner. It is corner number 12 and one of the most exciting points to watch a race.
– In 1993 Mick Doohan won at Mugello for the first time since his terrible accident in Assen. After that the Tuscany circuit became a talisman for the Australian, where he always won – racking up six consecutive wins there.
