MotoGP is the premier motorcycle racing World Championship; an eighteen-race series visiting fourteen countries, four continents and with pan-global television coverage. Eight nationalities of the world’s most skilled riders line a grid armed with cutting-edge motorcycle technology with prototype machinery fielded by four manufacturers; Ducati, Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki.

Established as a World Championship by the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) in 1949, MotoGP is now into its 63rd year. It is the oldest motorsports championship in the world and the premier class of three racing classes that take to the track on a typical Grand Prix weekend. Formerly labelled ‘500cc’, the championship underwent a change in 2002 with new technical regulations permitting the introduction of four-stroke machinery and increasing the engine capacity to 990cc, thus becoming MotoGP. From 2007 the rules were again altered, limiting engine capacity to 800cc. MotoGP has been administrated by commercial rights owners Dorna Sports under the supervision of the FIM since 1992.

MotoGP has a rich history with Grand Prix events having taken place in every corner of the world throughout the last 62 years. More than 2.2 million people came through the gates of the circuits to watch MotoGP in 2010. Italy, Great Britain, Spain, the USA and Australia are just some of the nationalities that have all totalled high numbers in terms of race victories and world titles, the details of which can be found in theResults & Statistics section.

As well as the premier class there are also two ultra-competitive World Championship Grand Prix categories which form part of ‘MotoGP’. The 125cc and Moto2 (formerly 250cc) World Championships have their own races at each Grand Prix, meaning that by the end of the season three new champions are crowned.