Agostini’s and Rossi’s MotoGP records are now within Márquez’s grasp
MotoGP
Marc Márquez is on his way to surpassing Valentino Rossi and Giacomo Agostini to become the most successful MotoGP rider of all time. But could this new target ruin his focus on what really matters: winning world championships?
Márquez is already on the all-time MotoGP wins podium – he needs to win 26 more races if he’s to become the most successful premier-class rider of all time
In Argentina on Sunday, Marc Márquez won his 90th grand prix, equalling 13-times 50cc and 125cc world champion Angel Nieto’s victory total. This is an important milestone, especially for a Spaniard, because Nieto laid the foundations of his country’s MotoGP domination, from his first world title in 1969 to his last in 1984.
Márquez rode his slowdown lap at Termas wearing a winner’s laurel, a nod to the times when grand prix winners like Nieto were anointed with wreathes of laurel leaves, a symbol of sporting triumph since the days of ancient Greece. Laurels were consigned to the dustbin of GP history once team bosses realised they obscured sponsor logos.
Márquez now shares the third step of the all-time winners podium – across all categories – with Nieto. The only riders ahead of him are Valentino Rossi and Giacomo Agostini, both within striking distance.
Agostini won 122 GPs in the 350cc and 500cc classes between 1965 and 1977, so he currently stands 32 victories ahead of Márquez. Rossi won 115 GPs in the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc/MotoGP classes between 1996 and 2017, so he is 25 ahead.
Winning another 26 or 33 GPs is a big ask for Márquez but those numbers are certainly within his grasp if he stays healthy and keeps racing for the next few years.
How long will the 32-year-old keep going? No one knows for certain, but he has already made it clear that he wants to keep racing into MotoGP’s new technical era, which starts in 2027 with smaller engines, reduced downforce aerodynamics, no ride-height devices and Pirelli tyres instead of Michelins.
Márquez believes the new tech rules will work in his favour, because they will allow riders to make more of a difference than they currently can, because today’s motorcycles do so much of the work for them.
Márquez celebrates his 90th GP victory at Termas, wearing laurel that paid tribute to Angel Nieto, who won 90 GPs in the 50cc, 80cc and 125cc classes between 1969 and 1985
Dorna/MotoGP
Márquez’s current team-mate Pecco Bagnaia won 11 GPs last year. Will the eight-time world champion equal or better that number this year and over the next few years? There’s no reason why not. If we assume he will race for another four seasons, six or seven wins per season would take him past Rossi and eight or nine per year would take him past Agostini.
In fact, the road to grand prix racing’s most significant summit — premier-class victories — is even closer to Márquez.
So far the six-time MotoGP king has scored 64 premier-class wins, to Ago’s 68 and Rossi’s 89, so he is only 26 wins away from reaching the very top.
And it is entirely logical to argue that climbing to the top of this particular mountain matters more than the all-categories peak, because surely premier-class victories matter more than victories across all categories, just as a Formula 1 car title matters more than an F2 or F3 crown.
Marc and Alex Márquez were once again in a class of their own at the MotoGP Argentine GP, where Pecco Bagnaia’s struggles have him contemplating a return to his 2024 Ducatis. Meanwhile the real heroes of the weekend were Honda and Johann Zarco
By
Mat Oxley
For example, the all-time most successful rider in motorcycling’s smaller categories is Nieto, with 62 wins in the 125cc class. Who would argue that those successes have the same value as Márquez’s 64 wins in the premier class?
Five-times MotoGP king Mick Doohan certainly wouldn’t.
The Australian won 54 MotoGP races between 1990 and 1998, which at that time put him second overall in the premier-class winners list, behind Agostini, and fourth in the all-classes list, behind Agostini, Nieto and Mike Hailwood.
When Rossi won his 54th GP across all classes at Brno in 2003, a journalist made the mistake of asking Doohan what he felt about the Italian youngster matching his number of GP wins.
“Mate,” Doohan hissed. “They don’t count F2 and F3 wins in F1, do they?”
Doohan had a point, no doubt about it.
Márquez leads Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa on his way to his first MotoGP victory at COTA, 21 April 2013
Honda Racing Corporation
Thus Márquez stands only 26 victories from becoming the most successful grand prix rider of all time.
Rossi has long suspected that his bitterest rival would eventually threaten his premier-class record.
“Márquez can beat my records, but it does not bother me,” said Rossi in 2018, when Márquez won nine GPs.
Márquez may also end up winning more premier-class championships than anyone else. Already he has only Rossi (seven titles) and Agostini (eight) ahead.
The big question is what does Márquez think about all of this? Is he aware that the summit of the sport is coming into view and how much does he care about setting records?
Doohan always said he didn’t care about records until he was getting close to Ago’s numbers, when he started taking more interest in the history of grand prix racing and what it means to fans. Riders want to be remembered for their achievements and there’s no better way to be remembered than to make it all the way to the very top, to be king of the castle.
And if Márquez does start thinking about the record, what then? Might he become obsessed with winning another 26 races, so he’s ticking them off one by one, because that will distract him from his real job, which is winning championships?
I don’t think so. Some of Márquez’s strongest qualities are his intelligence and his ability to focus on what’s important, to the exclusion of everything else. He works race by race, throwing everything he’s got at that weekend, because you lose your way if you do anything else. You try to win Sunday’s GP, then you move onto the next one – wins make championships and points make prizes.
