Everything you need to know about riders competing in VisitQatar Grand Prix 2019

2019 Grand Prix is set to take place from 8th to 10th March 2019 at the brilliant Losail International Circuit, which is located on the outskirts of Doha, Qatar.

The Losail International Circuit has hosted Qatar's MotoGP since 2004. Built in just under a year, the circuit has been a regular venue of the MotoGP calendar ever since.

You can watch the races with friends or family in an open air setting where you will be surrounded by the uproar of larger crowds.

Ticket information:

Book your tickets online on www.circuitlosail.com

Monster Energy Yamaha MoToGP

Maverick Viñales #12 

Date of birth: 12 January 1995

Place of birth: Figueres (SPA)

Weight: 64 kg; Height: 171 cm

Date of first GP:  QAT 11 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 4th

(193 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 1st, Race- NP

2019 could well be the most crucial year in Viñales’ career to date. In some respects the protégée from Roses in northern Catalonia, has flattered to deceive since his high profile move to Yamaha at the end of 2016.

Four wins from 36 races are well below the lofty expectations he sets himself. A spotty 16-year old with a Hollywood name won just his fourth ever Grand Prix in thrilling fashion at Le Mans, 2011. Two years on and his cool head prevailed in an epic fight for the Moto3™ World Championship that went all the way to the last corner of the final lap at the very last race.

He soon won his second ever race in Moto2 in 2014 before claiming the MotoGP™ Rookie of the Year title in 2015 in Suzuki’s return to the top class. He ended Suzuki’s factory’s MotoGP™ win drought at Silverstone in 2016 with his first premier class victory, and finished an incredible fourth in the championship.

Equipped with a new crew chief and rider coach for the year ahead, only a championship challenge will suffice for the demanding 24-year old.

Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1

Valentino Rossi #46

Date of birth: 16 February 1979

Place of birth: Urbino (ITA)

Weight: 69kg; Height: 181cm

Date of first GP: MAL 96 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 3rd

(198 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 16th, Race- 13th

The numbers suggest Rossi should be entering the twilight of his career. 2019 will be his 20th season as a MotoGP™ rider, while he turns 40 in February. But the last two performances of 2018 – leading three quarters of the race at Sepang, and fighting for second at Valencia before crashing out of both – coupled with his championship position (third), served as a timely reminder of his near insatiable hunger. Still, those dark days at Ducati (2011, 2012) aside, 2018 was the only winless year of Rossi’s glittering 24-year Grand Prix career. He has plenty to prove in the year ahead, especially as Yamaha returns with a more competitive M1.

In terms of premier class race wins, no one has more. His popularity remains as strong as ever the world over, and even as he enters into his fifth decade, the gangly Italian is still a giant of the sport.

Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1

Repsol Honda Team

Marc Márquez #93

Date of birth: 17 February 1993

Place of birth: Cervera (SPA)

Weight: 59 kg; Height: 168 cm

Date of first GP: QAT 08 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 1st

(321 points)

2018 VAL: QP - 5th, Race - NP

It could be argued that the earliest signs of Márquez’s greatness appeared in Portugal, 2010. Then the championship leader crashed on the sighting lap of the penultimate 125cc grand prix, an incident that necessitated him starting from the back of the grid. Not to worry, then the 17-year old still won the race and, two weeks later, the championship.

From there, he’s rarely slowed down. A Moto2™ World Championship was achieved in 2012, and he confirmed his place in history by winning the MotoGP™ title at his first attempt in 2013. In recent years, the Spaniard from Cervera has combined brains and maturity with his blistering speed and other worldly talent.

Five premier class titles, including the past three in a row. Only Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi have won more. The 26-year old had “aggressive” and “complicated” surgery to repair a badly damaged left shoulder last December. His winter has centered on rehabilitation. But don’t expect it to affect his speed as Márquez goes for world title #8.

Bike: Honda RC213V

Jorge Lorenzo #99

Date of birth: 4 May 1987

Place of birth: Palma de Mallorca (SPA)

Weight: 65kg; Height: 172cm

Date of first GP: SPA 02 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ. Standing: 9th

(134 points)

2018 VAL:  QP- 13th, Race- 12th

Lorenzo has come a long way since May, 2002, when he had to skip the first day of practice in order to legally qualify for his first 125 Grand Prix, which, fittingly, came at Jerez. That weekend, the then 15-year old finished 22nd after qualifying 33rd, not exactly numbers that spelled out greatness. But Lorenzo’s time in the smaller classes was brief and spectacular. He graduated to MotoGP™ as a double 250cc World Champion, thanks to convincing title wins in 2006 and 2007.

By then he was a fully-formed champion, claiming three successive podiums and a debut win in his first three MotoGP™ races for Yamaha. It came as no great surprise that he went on to win three MotoGP™ World Titles (2010, 2012, and 2015) for the Japanese factory, overcoming modern greats such as Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi to do so.

A move to Ducati for 2017 gained three more wins, but a title challenge never materialized. Now, in 2019, Lorenzo calls Repsol Honda his home.

Bike: Honda RC213V

Mission Winnow Ducati

Andrea Dovizioso #4

Date of birth: 23 March 1986

Place of birth: Forli (ITA)

Weight: 67kg Height: 167cm

Date of first GP: ITA 01 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 2nd

(245 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 3rd, Race- 1st

For two years, Dovizioso has proved to be Marc Márquez’s greatest rival-in-chief. While performances in 2017 may have come as a surprise, his form in the second half of 2018 ensured his previous success was no one-season wonder, and he’s here to stay at the top.

Eleven wins in the past 38 races make him the second most successful rider in MotoGP™’s Michelin era (post-2016). Considering his earlier career, this new found status at 32 years of age is still near unprecedented. The wily Italian won the 2004 125cc World Championship and pushed Jorge Lorenzo hard in two impressive, but ultimately unsuccessful 250cc campaigns in 2006 and 2007. But his performances in MotoGP™ from 2008-2012 only occasionally suggested greatness.

Now with the full support of Ducati behind him, Dovizioso views 2019 as his best chance to claim the premier class crown to date.

Bike: Ducati Desmosedici GP

Danilo Pretucci #9

Date of birth: 24 October 1990

Place of birth: Terni (ITA)

Weight: 78 kg; Height: 181 cm

Date of first GP: QAT 12

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 8th

(144 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 4th, Race- NP

Of MotoGP™’s 22 full-time competitors, Petrucci has had the most unusual ascent of all. A former European Superstock runner-up in 2011, the stocky Italian switched to MotoGP in 2012, where he rode the underpowered IodaRacing Project CRT Aprilia. Who, then, could have foreseen the coming years, which resulted in him joining Andrea Dovizioso in Ducati’s factory team. Not that his path was straightforward; Petrucci came close to retiring from racing in 2014, when a wrist injury necessitated a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

But his brave, gutsy displays aboard CRT machinery earned him a call up to Pramac Racing in 2015, a year in which he scored a memorable first podium at a wet Silverstone. Further podiums arrived in the following three years, with a second place at Le Mans, 2018, essentially earning him a spot in Ducati’s factory ranks for 2019. Possessing a one-year deal, Petrucci knows he must meet Ducati’s aims of regular top five from the off.

Bike: Ducati Desmosedici GP

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Andrea Iannone #29

Date of birth: 9 August 1989

Place of birth: Vasto (ITA)

Weight: 74kg; Height: 179 cm

Date of first GP: SPA 05 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 10th

(133 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 7th, Race- NP

Iannone left the 125cc class as a much-maligned figure, thanks to an explosive reaction to a crash involving Pol Espargaro in 2009. Before then the colorful Italian had enjoyed only mixed success in the junior category, and he stepped up to Moto2™ amid a cloud of controversy after his head-butting of Espargaro drew criticism from the watching world.

But soon Iannone would be making the right kind of headlines. He achieved third place in the intermediate category for three years running (2010, 2011 and 2012), earning him a place in MotoGP™ at Pramac Ducati for 2013 and 2014.

An extremely promising second season pushed him toward the factory Ducati team for 2015, a year when he scored three podium finishes. A first win came a year later in Austria, as he broke Ducati’s 100-race winless duck. And a move to Suzuki for 2017 frustrated at first, but bore four podiums in 2018, showing Iannone still has the speed. He moves to Aprilia’s factory team for 2019.

Bike: Aprilia RS-GP 2019

Aleix Espargaro #41

Date of birth: 30 July 1989

Place of birth: Granollers (SPA)

Weight: 66kg; Height: 180cm

Date of first GP: VAL 04 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 17th (44 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 8th, Race- NP

One of the grid’s unsung talents, the elder of the two Espargaro brothers has proven his ability as a fine development rider, and one capable of occasional top six results. The Catalan spent much of his early Grand Prix career swapping classes, from 125cc to 250cc and then MotoGP™, as he stood in for an injured Mika Kallio in 2009 while still a teenager. His four showings were enough to earn a full-time call up to Pramac Ducati racing and from there he has never looked back.

Espargaro won the coveted CRT title in MotoGP™ for two years running (2012 and 2013) before stellar performances aboard an ‘Open’ Forward Yamaha in 2014, including a brilliant podium finish at Aragon, convinced Suzuki he could lead the factory’s comeback to the premier class a year later. The rapid progress of the GSX-RR was partly down to Espargaro’s speed.

A switch to Aprilia in 2017 led to the RS-GP enjoying a similar uplift in results. Now in his third year with Aprilia’s factory team, regular top sixes are a requisite. 

Bike: Aprilia RS-GP 2019

LCR Honda Castrol

Cal Crutchlow #35

Date of birth: 29 October 1985

Place of birth: Coventry (GBR)

Weight: 66kg; Height: 170cm

Date of first GP: QAT 11 (MotoGP)

2018 Final Champ. Standing: 7th

(148 points)

Crutchlow’s move from World Superbike race winner to MotoGP rookie was far from seamless in the Tech 3 Yamaha squad. But a subsequent switch from 800cc to 1000cc engine capacity saw his form revitalized, with the Englishman scoring six podiums for the satellite squad in 2012 and 2013.

A high-profile switch to Ducati’s factory team in 2014 was tough at first, and short-lived, as he chose to move to Lucio Cecchinello’s LCR Honda squad for 2015. Then his successes really gained traction. Crutchlow put a disastrous opening the year in 2016 behind him to win races at Brno – Britain’s first in MotoGP since 1981. Another followed suit in Argentina 2018, as he consistently placed among the top five. Crutchlow’s testing performances suggest he’ll be as competitive as ever.

Bike: Honda RC213V

LCR Honda Idemitsu

Takaaki Nakagami #30

Date of birth: 9 February 1992

Place of birth: Chiba (JPN)

Weight: 70kg; Height: 175cm

Date of first GP: VAL 07 (125 cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 20th

(33 points)

2018 VAL: QP - 14th, Race - 6th

After two full seasons in the 125cc category (2008-’09), Nakagami was a Moto2™ regular from 2012. His learning year with the Italtrans Racing Team showed promise, but he really came into his own a season later, securing five podium finishes on his way to eighth in the championship.

By 2016 he could call himself a Grand Prix winner after emerging victorious at the Dutch TT, and a further win would follow at Silverstone in 2017. While unable to piece together a title challenge in Moto2™, Nakagami’s experience with Superbikes at the Suzuki 8 hour convinced HRC to make him the sole Japanese representative in the MotoGP™ class in 2018. He ended the year with a fine sixth place, and, with Honda’s 2018 RC213V at his disposal for the season ahead, Nakagami is expected to achieve top six results.

Bike: Honda RC213V

Alma Pramac Racing

Jack Miller #43

Date of birth: 18 January 1995

Place of birth: Townsville (AUS)

Weight: 64 kg; Height: 173 cm

Date of first GP: QAT 12 (Moto3)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 13th

(91 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 10th, Race- NP

Such was Miller’s early speed in the Moto3™ class, Honda felt it appropriate to bring a then 20-year old Australian straight to MotoGP™ in 2015. Before then, he mesmerized observers with gutsy displays on an underpowered FTR Honda in Moto3™, before pushing Alex Marquez all the way for the 2014 junior class title. His first year aboard Honda’s ‘Open’ MotoGP™ machinery was pockmarked by injury and inconsistency.

Miller moved to Marc VDS Honda for 2016, where he steadily improved before scoring a memorable debut MotoGP™ win in the rain at Assen. 2017 saw yet more progress and by the autumn he was a regular top eight finisher. A switch to Pramac Ducati for 2018 was a little underwhelming, as Miller scored just two top six finishes. But for 2019 he has Ducati’s GP19 at his disposal. Regular podium challenges are a must.

Bike: Ducati Desmosedici GP – 2019 version

Francesco Bagnaia #63

Date of birth: 14 January 1997

Place of birth: Torino (ITA)

Weight: 65 kg; Height: 176 cm

Date of first GP: QAT 13 (Moto3)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 1st

(306 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 4th, Race- 14th

(in Moto2)rancesco Bagnaia #63

A fresh-faced ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia’s debut season in Moto3™ in 2013 was an inauspicious one, the Italian failing to score a point while riding for the Team Italia squad. A move into the Sky VR46 fold the following year using KTM machinery saw a rapid upturn in results, but Bagnaia soon became convinced his style, which values high corner speed, would be more suited to Mahindra’s Moto3™ racer.

While he scored his first Grand Prix podium in 2015 aboard the Mahindra, he became known for a slightly hot-headed approach, which resulted in five DNFs. A calmer, more mature rider attacked the 2016 season, and Bagnaia was inspired, scoring Mahindra’s first Grand Prix victory at Assen, before adding another at Sepang.

Fourth place in the championship earned him a call up to Sky VR46’s new Moto2™ team, where he rode a Kalex chassis to claim the ‘Rookie of the Year’ title. A second season with the squad saw him claim eight wins and his first World Title. He steps up to MotoGP™ with Pramac Ducati in 2019, where he is expected to score top six finishes from the start.

Bike: Ducati Desmosedici GP

Reale Avintia Racing

Karel Abraham #17

Date of birth: 02 January 1990

Place of birth: Brno (CZE)

Weight: 64kg; Height: 180cm

Date of first GP: SPA 05 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 23rd

(12 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 18th, Race- 14th

Abraham cut his teeth in the 125cc World Championship in 2005 before moving into the intermediate class in 2007. His performances in 2010, the inaugural year of Moto2™, especially at Valencia, where he won his first grand prix, earmarked him out as a rider possessing real potential.

He moved up to MotoGP™ the following season on a Ducati and showed plenty of promise to finish 14th overall. He was a regular inside the top 10 on Ducati machinery again in 2012 but he suffered an injury-dominated 2013 following a switch to ART machinery in the Open category.

Abraham moved to the World Superbike Championship after a trying season on Honda’s production racer in 2015, but returned aboard a two-year old Ducati in the Pull&Bear Aspar Team in 2017 to score two excellent top ten finishes in Argentina and Holland. For 2019, he switches to Reale Avintia Ducati for

Bike: Ducati Desmosedici GP – 2018 version the year ahead.

Tito Rabat #53

Date of birth: 25 May 1989

Place of birth: Barcelona (SPA)

Weight: 67 kg; Height: 178 cm

Date of first GP: VAL 05 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 19th (35 points)

Only on occasion did Rabat’s performances during a five-year stay in the 125cc class suggest he was a future World Champion. But the Spaniard really came into his own when competing on four-stoke machinery, as witnessed by his rapid turnaround in Moto2™. A surprise podium in 2011, his debut year in the class, at Indianapolis aboard an FTR chassis earned him a move to Sito Pons’ squad for 2012.

Using a Kalex frame, Rabat placed seventh and third overall in 2013, results that attracted Marc VDS to acquire his services for 2014. It was to be his finest year to date as seven victories saw him wrap the title up with three races to spare. Although he was unable to retain his crown a year later, Rabat joined MotoGP™ in 2017. But thanks to an underpowered Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V his best race over two seasons was a single ninth place.

A move to Ducati machinery in the Reale Avintia team saw an immediate upturn in results until a horrific practice crash at Silverstone fractured his right leg in three places. His place on this year’s grid owes as much to his strength of character than anything else.

Bike: Ducati Desmosedici GP – 2018 version

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Johann Zarco #5

Date of birth: 16 July 1990

Place of birth: Cannes (FRA)

Weight: 67 kg; Height: 171 cm

Date of first GP: QAT 09 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 6th

(158 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 11th, Race- 7th

His stunning rookie MotoGP™ campaign in 2017 was always going to be difficult to follow. But Zarco proved himself to be a regular thorn in the side of factory runners once again in 2018, even if the year featured as many ups as it did downs. T

The Frenchman’s haul of six podiums and five pole positions aboard satellite Yamaha machinery really shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Zarco is, after all, France’s most successful two-wheel export, his back-to-back World Championship triumphs in Moto2™ (in 2015 and 2016) the culmination of years of somewhat erratic promise.

The 16-time Grand Prix race winner opted for KTM, at a time when the likes of Honda and Suzuki were open admirers. Watching him turn the RC16 into a top six challenger should be absorbing viewing.

Bike: KTM RC16

Pol Espargaro #44

Date of birth: 10 June 1991

Place of birth:  Granollers (SPA)

Weight: 63kg; Height: 171 cm

Date of first GP:  CAT 06 (125cc)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 14th

(51 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 6th, Race- 3rd

The younger Espargaro brother shot to prominence with an eye-catching sixth place in just his seventh race in the 125 class in 2006. After four seasons in the junior category, he graduated to Moto2™ in 2011, and won the class outright in ’13 after a tense, year-long fight with Scott Redding.

Monster Yamaha Tech3 came calling with the promise of a seat in MotoGP™, and Espargaro showed early promise, winning the Rookie of the Year title in 2014. A difficult second season in 2015 followed, and while he managed to equal his best premier result in the class with the same team in 2016, he put his trust in KTM’s exciting project for the following year.

2017 exceeded even his own expectations, as he took the RC16 to top ten finishes at Brno, Aragon, Phillip Island and Sepang. 2018 was more complicated, as huge crashes at the Sepang test, Brno and Aragon meant he was rarely fully fit. A stunning podium in the rain at Valencia recaptured some of that missing momentum, and Espargaro will be hoping to achieve regular top six finishes by the end of 2019.

Petronas Yamaha SRT

Fabio Quartararo #20

Date of birth: 20 April 1999

Place of birth: Nice (FRA)

Weight: 66 kg; Height: 177 cm

Date of first GP: QAT 15 (Moto3)

2017 Final Champ.Standing: 10th

(138 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 9th, Race- 6th (in Moto2)

The youngest rider on the MotoGP™ grid, Quartararo’s inclusion in the brand new Petronas-backed Sepang Racing Team came as a surprise. Did just one win and a further podium in his second campaign in Moto2™ really merit a place alongside ex-World Champion Franco Morbidelli aboard one of the grid’s sweetest handling machines? Possibly.

For the young Frenchman finally found some consistency during 2018, and produced astonishing performances – a sensational debut win in Barcelona, an excellent comeback to second at Assen – that we all suspected his talent was capable of producing. Quartararo joined the Moto3™ class in 2015 as one of the most-hyped rookies in recent memory as a result of back-to-back triumphs in the FIM Junior World Championship™.

But injury and uncompetitive machinery restricted him to only the occasional decent result in 2015 and 2016, before he stepped up to Moto2™ in 2017. An inconsistent year meant he was dropped by Sito Pons’ team. But he was something of a revelation when he found his feet aboard the Speed Up chassis in 2018. Testing performances suggest he’ll be fighting for the MotoGP™ ‘Rookie of the Year’ gong this year.

Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1

Franco Morbidelli #21

Date of birth: 4 December 1994

Place of birth:  Rome (ITA)

Weight: 64kg; Height: 176 cm

Date of first GP: RSM 13 (Moto2)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 15th

(50 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 15th, Race- NP

Morbidelli had the distinction of becoming the first member of Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Riders’ Academy to make it into the premier class of motorcycle racing in 2018 – a just reward for the Italian, whose trail to Grand Prix racing was less than conventional. The laconic Roman joined Moto2™ in 2014 with Italtrans Racing after winning the European Superstock 600cc title the year before.

2015 showed definite promise until a training accident prematurely curtailed his year. By then Morbidelli had already secured a seat in the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Moto2™ team for 2016, a season which brought about eight podium finishes. That first win still eluded him however, but they would come. Morbidelli racked up eight wins, through 2017 ensuring he secured the Moto2™ world championship with two races to spare.

His move to MotoGP with Marc VDS was undermined by an underpowered Honda RC213V. But a switch to the Petronas-backed Sepang Racing Team with Ramon Forcada as his crew chief for 2019 should result in an instant upturn in results.

Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1

Team Syzuki Ecstar

Joan Mir #36

Date of birth: 01 September 1997

Place of birth: Palma de Mallorca (SPA)

Weight: 68 kg; Height: 181 cm

Date of first GP: AUS 15 (Moto3)

2018 Final Champ. Standing: 6th

(155 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 7th, Race- NL (in Moto2)

The Majorcan was marginally older than a band of talented rookies when he joined the Moto3™ World Championship in 2016. At 18 years of age, Mir had proven he was fast in the FIM Junior World Championship. Four wins in 2015 bore testament to that. But there was inconsistency too, with four DNFs disrupting his campaign.

That first season in the world championship showed real promise. After an iffy first nine races, Mir claimed a surprise first win at Austria’s Red Bull Ring the tenth time out. An insistence on his Leopard Racing team switching from KTM to Honda machinery was pivotal for the following year; Mir’s exceptional braking ability and fluent movements were a match made in heaven with the NSF250RR.

Ten wins followed in a dominant championship romp that enabled a graduation to the Moto2™ class in 2018, and early podiums at Le Mans and Mugello convinced Suzuki to take him to MotoGP™ for 2019. A certain contender for the MotoGP™ Rookie of the Year title in the year ahead.

Bike: Suzuki GSX-RR

Alex Rins #42

Date of birth: 08 December 1995

Place of birth:  Barcelona (SPA)

Weight: 68kg; Height: 176 cm

Date of first GP:  QAT 12 (Moto3)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 5th

(169 points)

2018 VAL: QP- 2nd, Race- 2nd

Just how Rins manages expectations during 2019 will be one of the season’s most interesting storylines. Big things are expected from a rider who has twice challenged for World Championship glory in his Grand Prix career without achieving the overall crown.

The Spaniard came within one corner of securing the Moto3™ World Championship in 2013, and was Johann Zarco’s chief rival when still a rookie in Moto2™ two years later. But Rins has built on his massive promise since moving to MotoGP™ with Suzuki in 2017.

A succession of injuries pocked his first half-season, but since then he has never looked back. Two top six finishes at the close of 2017 were then backed up by five podium finishes a season later. Testing performances suggest he and Suzuki are ready for the next step: surely a first MotoGP™ race win is around the corner.

Bike: Suzuki GSX-RR

Red Bull KTM Tech 3

Miguel Oliviera #45

Date of birth: 4 January 1995

Place of birth: Pragal (POR)

Weight: 64 kg; Height: 170 cm

Date of first GP: QAT 12 (Moto3)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 2nd

(297 points)

2018 VAL: QP - 10th, Race - 1st (in Moto2)

To prove his pedigree at such a tender age, Oliveira pushed current MotoGP™ star Maverick Viñales all the way in the 2010 FIM CEV Repsol 125cc category. Although he just missed out on the title by two points, he soon progressed to the world championship, making his Moto3™ debut with the Estrella Galicia 0,0 team in 2012, a year in which he scored podium finishes at Barcelona and Phillip Island.

Those showings earned him a call up to Mahindra’s factory Moto3™ squad for 2013 and ’14. A year in Aki Ajo’s Red Bull KTM Moto3™ squad in 2015 resulted in six wins – the first of which at Mugello marked him out as Portugal’s inaugural Grand Prix winner - and a championship challenge.

Oliveira moved to Moto2™ the following year and by 2017 he was reunited with Ajo, fronting the KTM chassis’ impressive assault on the intermediate class. He just fell short of beating Francesco Bagnaia to the Moto2™ World Championship in 2018, but six wins in two years was enough to convince KTM he was deserving of a place in its new satellite MotoGP™ team for 2019.

Bike: KTM RC16

Hafizh Syahrin #55

Date of birth: 5 May 1994

Place of birth: Ampang (MAL)

Weight: 66kg; Height: 180cm

Date of first GP: MAL 11 (Moto2)

2018 Final Champ.Standing: 16th

(46 points)

2018 VAL:  QP- 21st, Race- 10th

Syahrin has the distinction of being the first Malaysian to compete in MotoGP™, his new-found status making him a household name in the bike-mad country. Called up to Tech 3 as a last-minute replacement for Jonas Folger early into 2018, Syahrin looked entirely at home aboard a 260bhp machine from the off, scoring a sensational top ten finish in just his second race.

Those who remember his explosive opening performances in Grand Prix wouldn’t be surprised. Syahrin shot to the world’s attention with a stunning podium finish when appearing as a wildcard in the 2012 Moto2™ race at Sepang. In just his second Grand Prix appearance, the Malaysian teenager was a match for the world’s best in wet conditions. A further four outings followed in 2013, before Syahrin became a full-time fixture in Moto2™ from 2014.

He really rose to prominence in 2016, when he placed ninth in the World Championship, securing three fourth places at Qatar, Barcelona and Silverstone along the way. After a year with Yamaha, Syahrin and Tech 3 switch to KTM machinery for 2019, a year which should provide plenty of challenges for both.

Bike: KTM RC16

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