Did you know…?
– At the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, Casey Stoner was proclaimed MotoGP World Champion on the Ducati with three races left until the end of the season. That GP was won by his teammate Loris Capirossi in what was to be the final victory of his sporting career.
– Ducati was awarded the World Champion title at Twin Ring Motegi, which is owned by Honda.
– At the 2003 Japanese Grand Prix, Capirossi acheived the first MotoGP podium for Ducati. At that time, the race was still held at the Suzuka circuit.
– Three of Capirossi’s eight victories with Ducati were at Motegi, all of them consecutively from 2005 to 2007.
– Ducati has four victories at Motegi. In addition to the three with Capirossi, the fourth was with Stoner in 2010.
– Jorge Lorenzo has three victories at Motegi, all in MotoGP (2009, 2013 and 2014).
– Andrea Dovizioso is 16 points behind Marquez in the fight for the World Championship, with a total of 100 points remaining.
– Andrea achieved the victory at the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix, the year he won the 125cc World Champion title.
– Motegi is a so-called Stop & Go track due to its six major acceleration points, followed by six braking points. It is the circuit in which first gear is used the most number of times (three) and where the most number of speed changes are made with a total of 30 per lap.
– In 1999 the first GP at the circuit of Motegi was celebrated, and has been on the calendar since then. From 2000 to 2003, it was celebrated under the name of GP of the Pacific, while on other occasions it has been titled the Japanese GP.
– The Motegi circuit is called Twin Ring, because there are two circuits inside of a single enclosure that share the pit line.
– The strongest braking of the entire circuit is turn 11, where speeds go from 308 km/h, to 86 km/h, over a time of 5.2 seconds and a distance of 263 meters. To do this, riders must apply a pressure of 7.6 kg on the brake lever.
– Of all the circuits that make up the current season, Le Mans is the most similar track to Motegi. – With five wins, Dani Pedrosa is the rider with the most wins at Motegi and the only one who has done so in three different categories (one in 125cc in 2002, one in 250cc in 2004, three in MotoGP, in 2011, 2012 and 2015) .
