Jerez: celebrating 3000 Grand Prix races

2017-05-04 08:02
A new incredible milestone in the history of the FIM MotoGP™ World Championship set for the Spanish GP

The MotoGP™ race at Jerez will be more than simply the start of the European leg of 2017 – it will be the 3000th Grand Prix motorcycle race counting towards the World Championship classification, across all classes. From the original four classes of 500cc, 350cc, 250cc and 125cc, the MotoGP™ World Championship today now features Moto3™, Moto2™ and MotoGP™ - with the premier class race in Jerez set to be the one to hit the 3000 milestone.

The very first of those races counting towards the World Championship classification was the 350cc race at the 1949 Isle of Man TT, which took place on Monday 13th June and was won by British rider Freddie Frith on a Velocette. There have been another 280 350cc races since then, as well as 172 50 cc, 47 80cc, 722 125cc, 92 Moto3™, 716 250cc, 126 Moto2™, 580 500cc and 264 MotoGP™ races.

Fittingly, the country that has hosted the most races is Spain, with 373 prior to the 2017 Spanish GP. To begin the weekend, Giacomo Agostini and Angel Nieto will also be on hand in the Press Conference alongside current MotoGP™ points leader Valentino Rossi, as the three riders with the most wins in the history of the Championship.

The 1000th grand prix race was the 50cc race at the German Grand Prix in 1975 at Hockenheim, won by Nieto, with the 2000th winner Mick Doohan in the 500cc race in the Japanese GP in 1997 at Suzuka.

Now we head for Jerez and the start of the European leg of 2017, who will take the win in race number 3000?

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