Grand Prix of Aragon

The Grand Prix of Aragon made its debut on the MotoGP calendar in 2010, with the premier class further growing its presence in Spain with a race set in the northeast.

Spain is one of the major markets MotoGP competes in and is home to a host of champions. The Aragon GP arose beside the Grand Prix of Spain at Jerez, the Grand Prix of Catalunya at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the Valencia Grand Prix at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

The Aragon GP also first took place in 2010 as MotoGP needed to find a replacement for the Hungarian Grand Prix when the debut Balatonring race fell through for a second time. It was such a success that MotoGP decided to hand MotorLand Aragon a multi-year deal to return.

History of the MotoGP Grand Prix of Aragon

Despite the first Grand Prix of Aragon in 2010 initially materialising owing to MotoGP’s need to replace the debut Hungarian Grand Prix at the Balatonring, the round was a huge success. It also made history by winning MotoGP’s Best Grand Prix award at the first attempt in 2010.

MotorLand Aragon had just six months compared to the usual year to prepare to host a race but delivered world-class facilities and an interesting circuit. The organisation of the maiden Aragon GP and the facilities on offer made a huge impression on MotoGP to merit its future.

Investment from the Aragon autonomous community also helped the Grand Prix to cement its continued presence on the MotoGP calendar. It showed MotoGP that the Aragon GP was able to establish itself as more than a reserve circuit in case other future races fell through.

It would not be until the 2023 campaign when MotoGP decided to start rotating the races it has on the Iberian Peninsula that the Aragon GP failed to feature on a calendar. It would not be the end for the race, though, as MotoGP made a swift return to Aragon in the 2024 term.

MotorLand Aragon has also offered MotoGP a different type of home in Spain compared to its domestic rivals Jerez, Barcelona and Valencia. While Spain’s previously established races are all coastal and popular cities on their own, Aragon is inland and away from major cities.

Casey Stoner won the first two runnings of the Aragon GP with Ducati and Honda

When the time came for MotorLand Aragon to host its debut Grand Prix in round 13 of the 2010 season, MotoGP was being dominated by Spaniards. Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa had won each of the previous 11 races after Italian Valentino Rossi won the season-opener.

So, naturally, a Spaniard did not win the first Aragon Grand Prix as Casey Stoner scored his first victory of the season. The Ducati ace romped from pole position to beat Pedrosa by five seconds. Stoner even returned to win the 2011 Grand Prix of Aragon after moving to Honda.

Like in 2010, Stoner secured pole position in 2011 and then denied Pedrosa the top step of the podium while setting the fastest lap of the Aragon GP on way to the Australian opening an eight-second lead. Yet unlike in 2010, his 2011 win was Stoner’s eighth of 10 for the title.

Pedrosa’s days as the perennial bridesmaid were finally over in 2012 as he became the first Spanish rider to win the Aragon GP. The Honda rider passed his pole-sitting compatriot and Yamaha rival Lorenzo en route to Pedrosa opening his six-second winning margin at Aragon.

With Stoner finally toppled having missed the 2012 Aragon GP through injury, Spanish pilots took ownership of the race with Marc Marquez, Lorenzo and Alex Rins building on Pedrosa’s win. A non-Spanish rider did not win the Aragon GP again until Francesco Bagnaia’s in 2021.

Marc Marquez won his first MotoGP Sprint and Grand Prix on a Ducati at Aragon in 2024

Marquez was a menace at the Aragon GP amid his dominant era at Honda. He won the race en route to lifting the 2013 MotoGP title as a rookie, before returning to the top step of the podium in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Marquez missed the 2020 Aragon GP through injury.

Rins took up the Spanish mantle in Marquez’s absence by winning the 2020 Aragon GP. Yet Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini then put the Italian flag above the top step in 2021 and 2022. It was then back to Marquez to win his first MotoGP race with a Ducati at the 2024 Aragon GP.

Marquez left Honda for satellite Ducati team Gresini after the 2023 season, having struggled to recapture his magic after a horrific arm injury in 2020. The Cervera native adapted to his year-old Ducati quickly, but Marquez’s first win continued to escape him through 11 rounds.

It had been three years since Marquez last won a MotoGP Grand Prix in 2021 at Misano for Honda before triumphing in 2024 on a Ducati at Aragon with Gresini. But he dominated the event with Marquez taking pole and comfortably winning the Sprint plus Aragon Grand Prix.

What is the MotorLand Aragon circuit like?

MotorLand Aragon (the home for the Grand Prix of Aragon) may be a more difficult track to reach compared to Jerez (which hosts the Grand Prix of Spain) and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (which stages the Catalan Grand Prix), but MotoGP riders regularly love visiting it.

Carved in the hillside, Hermann Tilke designed MotorLand Aragon to allow for strong racing with a mixture of fast and slow plus undulating and sweeping turns. MotorLand Aragon also has a reverse Corkscrew plus a 1.2km (0.7m) straight on the back of two, downhill chicanes.

MotorLand Aragon also left a huge impression on MotoGP’s Class of 2010 when it debuted on the calendar. Lorenzo noted at the time: “I really like this track. It’s so fun to ride and it is quite different, a new challenge.”

Nicky Hayden also praised MotorLand Aragon after qualifying in P4 for the debut Aragon GP in 2010 with Ducati. The American noted: “I think they’ve built a track they can be proud of. There are some fun sections with blind entries, some fast corners and some slow ones.”

Winners of the MotoGP Grand Prix of Aragon

Below, MotoGP News has listed every premier class rider to win the Aragon Grand Prix…