Marc Marquez was crowned as the 2019 MotoGP World Championship after he won the last race in Thailand. But it isn’t the end of the season. This weekend one of the most fascinating races in the calendar – the Grand Prix of Japan – will take place at the Twin Ring Motegi. Let’s have a look at its 5 key facts-
-The Motegi circuit is called Twin Ring because it unites two circuits that nevertheless only have the pit straight in common.
– Motegi is a so-called stop & go track because it has six major acceleration points followed by six strong braking points. It is the circuit where first gear is used the most, up to three times.
-This will be the twentieth time that Motegi had been the venue for a round of the world championship. The first time was in 1999 and since then the circuit has been a permanent fixture on the calendar. Between 2000 and 2003 the race was held under the denomination of GP of the Pacific and since then it has been renamed the GP of Japan.
-The first time that Ducati achieved a MotoGP podium was in 2003, in the GP of Japan, which at the time was held at the Suzuka circuit. It was Loris Capirossi who scored third place.
-3 of the 8 wins obtained by Capirossi with Ducati came at the Twin Ring Motegi, and they were all in consecutive years, from 2005 to 2007.
