Curiosities in the MotoGP World Championship

If you like motorsports, don't miss the opportunity to learn about some interesting facts regarding the MotoGP Championship!

The MotoGP World Championship is a heated event between all participants. It’s an interesting world that’s worth knowing about. Here we’ll give you five interesting facts about the sport, that you probably didn’t know about.

What to know about the MotoGP World Championship

1. In Muslim countries, the celebration is non-alcoholic

in the world of motorsports, champagne is an essential part of the celebrations, and the MotoGP World  Championship is no exception. This specific drink is a synonym of victory, success, and celebration. However, in Muslim countries alcohol consumption is illegal.

Thus, when the MotoGP takes place in a Muslim country, they must obey the laws of that country. To do this, they drink a non-alcoholic beverage called Waard. It’s a type of soda that looks like and tastes similar to champaign.

2. The jumpsuits are made of kangaroo skin

The rules require the use of special protective jumpsuits. This piece of clothing protects riders from possible injuries in case of accidents. Thus, it must be made of strong and flexible materials.

The best material for this is kangaroo leather. And so, the jumpsuits for all of the riders are made of kangaroo skin. There is, however, a movement concerning the use of animal skin for these protective gears. Thus, they may change this material soon.

3. MotoGP league is only 16 years-old

Although we may associate the MotoGP World Championship with historic events, it only began in 2002. Before then, this category was called 500 cc. With the new rules for the 2002 season, the motorbikes increased the engine size to 990 ccs. Thus, they changed the name of the category.

This is not the only time this has happened, in 2010 the 250 cc category changed to Moto2. Also, the 150 cc category changed to Moto3. Although, for now, it doesn’t look like it’ll change again any time soon.

4. Andrea Iannone holds the speed record

The MotoGP World Championship is known for its riders reaching incredibly high speeds. Every year, they seem to beat the record from the previous year and they are constantly looking to improve their times.

To date, the fastest MotoGP rider title is held by the Italian, Andrea Iannone. During the Mugello Grand Prix 2016, he reached a speed of 354.9 km/h. He accomplished this while competing with his teammate Andrea Dovizioso. He beat the previous world record, which was also his.

5. Who is the highest-paid rider?

In this sport, the salary of the riders is a secret and we often speculate about how much they earn. Additionally, their salary is not their only source of income, they also have multi-million dollar advertisement deals.

Currently, one of the best-paid riders is Jorge Lorenzo, earning around 17 million dollars a year. Meanwhile, Marc Maárquez earns around 14 million dollars. In the third place is Valentino Rossi, earning around 11 million dollars.

Despite the third-place salary, Rossi is the rider who actually earns the most due to his team’s VR46 merchandise and advertisement deals.

Thus, the MotoGP World Championships makes a very interesting topic to explore. Fans can spend hours watching the races learning new and interesting facts about it.