The top 10 most successful and long-lasting MotoGP riders
It was 2010 when Marc Marquez clinched his first GP victory.
Fifteen years later, he’s still winning, earning himself a spot in the Top 10 riders who have managed to take victories more than 13 years apart. Do you know who tops this ranking?
"To win you need talent, to repeat you need character"
(John Wooden, coach of the UCLA Bruins, winners of 7 consecutive NCAA basketball titles)
Since the Motorcycle World Championship began in 1949, over 400 riders have claimed at least one GP victory, but only 306 managed to repeat. Just over 100 reached double figures, with at least 10 GP wins, and only about 40 riders have stood on the top step of the podium 20 times or more.
All this proves, if proof were needed, that winning isn’t impossible, even in a complex sport like motorcycle racing: sometimes all it takes is the right set of circumstances, for example, a sudden weather change, for even mid-tier riders to make the difference and leave everyone else behind on a day of grace.
Of course, repeating success is never down to luck, just as Brembo has managed to secure victory in every premier-class GP (plus all the Sprints) over the past 30 years.
This is an unprecedented streak in motorsport history, spanning nearly 520 GPs, first in the 500cc class and now in MotoGP, all won by bikes equipped with Brembo braking components.
This year Marc Marquez became the 6th rider to win a GP at least 15 years after his first World Championship victory. But some riders have managed an even greater feat. Here’s the full list.
Johann Zarco
At 35, the Frenchman is the oldest full-time rider on the MotoGP grid. He debuted in 2009 in the 125cc class with Aprilia, but had to wait until the 2011 Spanish GP for his first podium, finishing 3rd on a Derbi.
Later that year, he claimed his maiden victory in Japan. Zarco’s first Moto2 win came in Argentina in 2015, and in the intermediate class he won two World Championships.
He had to wait until the 2023 Australian GP for his first MotoGP triumph.
This year, riding the LCR Honda, he took victory at Le Mans in front of his home crowd and family, in tricky mixed-weather conditions, but even in the rain, Brembo carbon discs did their job flawlessly.
Thomas Luthi
The Swiss rider made his World Championship debut in July 2002 with Honda and finished 2nd at his 13th GP in Catalunya.
In 2005 he took the 125cc World Championship thanks to 4 victories, including his first-ever win at Le Mans aboard the RS 125R.
He never won in 250cc, but in Moto2 he claimed 12 victories, from Malaysia 2011 to the Americas GP 2019, where he beat Marcel Schrotter.
He also finished runner-up in Moto2 in 2016 and 2017. Luthi retired at the end of 2021 but still holds the records for most podiums and fastest laps in Moto2, having raced first with Suter and later Kalex machinery.
Phil Read
The Englishman, who passed away in October 2022, was one of the greatest riders of all time, as his record shows: one World Championship in 125cc, four in 250cc, and two in 500cc between 1964 and 1974 with Yamaha and MV Agusta. Read scored his first win in 1961, the same year Brembo was founded, in the Junior TT (350cc class) on a Norton, after a grueling 2h22’ race.
He won GPs in four classes: 10 in 125cc, 27 in 250cc, 4 in 350cc, and 11 in the premier class.
His final win came in the 1975 Czechoslovakian GP (500cc), where he beat Giacomo Agostini by a full minute on the MV Agusta.
Jorge Lorenzo
Nicknamed Por Fuera for his daring outside overtakes, the Majorcan claimed 5 World Championships: two in 250cc and three in MotoGP. In 125cc he won four races with Derbi, his first in Brazil 2003 by beating Casey Stoner.
In 250cc, his 17 victories with Aprilia earned him a Yamaha MotoGP seat, where he debuted with pole position and a 2nd-place finish.
Despite several serious injuries, Lorenzo amassed 47 MotoGP wins, almost all with the M1, except for his last three with Ducati, the last being Austria 2018, after a fierce braking duel with Marc Marquez, featuring Brembo’s world-class braking systems.
Marc Marquez (still active, so his tally keeps growing)
With his June 22nd Mugello win, Marquez triumphed exactly 15 years after his first GP victory. The eight-time World Champion first won on June 6th, 2010, also at Mugello, in the 125cc class on a Derbi.
Starting from sixth, he overtook Pol Espargaró at the penultimate lap’s first braking point and held off Nicolas Terol by 0.039s at the flag.
Marquez has 10 wins in 125cc, 16 in Moto2, and around 70 in MotoGP, all with Brembo braking power, helping him claim 8 World Titles. So far.
Dani Pedrosa
Only bad luck, in the form of numerous crashes and broken bones, kept Pedrosa from a MotoGP crown. He won 31 MotoGP races and finished runner-up three times.
From 2003 to 2005, he secured three World Championships, one in 125cc and two in 250cc. His first win came at Assen 2002, where he led from pole to the checkered flag.
His last, like all of his 54 World Championship victories, came with Honda at the 2017 Valencia GP, with a last-lap pass on Johann Zarco.
Ángel Nieto
A small-displacement specialist, with 13 World Championships Nieto is the second most successful rider in history: 6 titles in 50cc and 7 in 125cc, from 1969 to 1984. He first raced a GP in 1964 in Spain, but didn’t reach the podium until 1967 at Assen.
His maiden win came at the 1969 East German GP at Sachsenring in the 50cc class with Derbi. He made his 125cc debut in 1970, taking his first win that same year in Belgium.
In 1975 he switched to Kreidler, taking 6 wins and 2 second places in 8 races.
Nieto also won with Bultaco, Minarelli, and Garelli, but his final victory required a return to his first love: Derbi, taking the win in the 80cc class at the 1985 French GP.
Andrea Dovizioso
His misfortune? Crossing paths with Marc Marquez. From 2017 to 2019, the rider from Forlì pushed Marquez to the limit, finishing MotoGP runner-up three times.
Dovizioso’s first win came in 2004 in South Africa in the 125cc class on a Honda, claiming the title with 5 wins that year.
In three 250cc seasons he won four races, finishing twice as runner-up and once third overall. In MotoGP, he won only once in his first eight years, but helped Ducati return to winning ways, claiming 14 victories with the Bologna-based team, the last at the 2020 Austrian GP, beating Marquez.
He was also a driving force behind the return of Brembo’s thumb brake, which he used exclusively in right-hand corners.
Loris Capirossi
On August 5th, 1990, the rider from Imola won the 125cc race at Donington Park on the Team Pileri Honda, becoming, at 17 years and 49 days, the youngest GP winner ever.
Capirossi took 8 victories in 125cc, claiming two titles. In 250cc, he won 12 races and the 1998 Championship with Aprilia, the same year Brembo introduced its radial-mounted brake caliper.
He also won twice in the 500cc class and took 7 MotoGP victories, becoming the first rider to win with Ducati’s Desmosedici in 2003.
His final win came at the 2007 Japanese GP; that same day his teammate Casey Stoner sealed the title with 6th place.
Valentino Rossi
Staying at the top for 20 years is one of Rossi’s many incredible records. His first win came at his 11th attempt, the 1996 Czech GP, on an Aprilia RS125 with a 273 mm steel disc and a 4-piston axial caliper.
The following year, he took the 125cc World Championship, adding the 250cc title in 1999, again with Aprilia.
Rossi claimed the 500cc title in his second season and remained unbeaten through 2005, despite switching from Honda to Yamaha.
He added his 8th and 9th crowns in 2008 and 2009 and continued winning until 2017, when he narrowly beat Danilo Petrucci at Assen by just 0.063s.
In total, Rossi won 115 GPs, changing manufacturers, teams, and tire suppliers — but always with Brembo brakes.
You might be surprised not to find Giacomo Agostini, the most successful rider ever, with 15 World Championships and 123 race wins: 68 in 500cc, 54 in 350cc, and one in 750cc.
Ago, however, entered the World Championship relatively late, at 21, and retired at 35: just 12 years and 153 days passed between his first win (1965 West German GP, 350cc) and his last (1977 West German GP, 750cc).