The 15 riders with the most MotoGP World Championships

Throughout its history, the MotoGP World Championship has produced an uncountable number of world champions based on displacement in each of the various categories it has hosted.

These categories range from 50 cubic centimeters to 1000 cubic centimeters and contain the motorcycles that compete in the premier class that is given the same name.

In legendary settings such as Assen (nicknamed the cathedral because it has been the site of a grand Prix ever since the championship was established), Jerez, Mugello, Silverstone, Phillip Island, or Le Mans, numerous riders have established themselves as legends through the accumulation of titles and victories.

Not every single one of the protagonists matures in the same manner.

As a result, here at Motorbli, we will discuss the top 15 riders in terms of the number of MotoGP World Championships they have won.

Who are some of the most accomplished riders in the history of MotoGP?

In the lines that follow, illustrious names from the world of motorcycling are going to be mentioned; however, there will also be some surprises due to the absence of others who did not win as many races but whose legacy will live on forever in the annals of the history of this sport thanks to the many victories they attained and the titles they won, despite not being placed in any of the 15 positions shown below:

1. Giacomo Agostini

In terms of the number of championships won throughout his career, the Italian Giacomo Agostini unquestionably occupies this honor thanks to his 15 World Championship titles.

This record will be brutal to break in the current context because riders cannot compete in multiple categories simultaneously.

Agostini won the championship in the 350 cubic centimeter class in 1966, 1967, and 1968; in 1969 to 1972, twice (in both the 350 and 500 cubic centimeter classes); in 1973 to 1974 in the 350cc class; and in 1975 in the 500cc class.

He finished his career having won 122 races, with more than half of those victories coming in the premier half-liter category.

These victories earned him a total of eight championships. The MV Augusta brand was the one with which he had the most success in attaining glory.

Nevertheless, he also competed for Yamaha, Suzuki, and Moto Morini.

2. Ángel Nieto

The Spanish rider currently holds the second-highest number of world championships, having won 12 and one extra title throughout his career.

It was in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 (50 and 125 cc), 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984. Those years were included.

As a trailblazer in Spanish motorcycle racing, he competed for and won races for Spanish brands like Derbi and Bultaco.

After a career that included 90 victories, 139 podium finishes, 16 pole positions, and 69 fastest laps, he retired in 1986.

While competing in the World Championship, he also worked as a representative for the brands Kreidler, Minarelli, and Garelli.

Unfortunately, he passed away in the summer of 2017 due to injuries he sustained in an accident while riding a quad bike in Ibiza during his vacation.

His death was caused by a severe accumulation of fluid in the brain. We won’t ever be able to forget him.

3. Carlo Ubbiali

There are a total of three riders who have won nine titles between them, and they are all tied for third place in this honorary ranking.

Carlo Ubbiali, an Italian known as “one of the great dominators in the decade of the 1950s,” was the first to reach them. Ubbiali was a dominant figure in the sport during that time.

In 1951, he won the 125 cc championship on a Mondial and started his career on the right foot.

He did not experience the sweetness of success once more until the year 1955 when he added the second in the same category with another Italian company called MV Augusta.

This company has already been mentioned in this article.

With it, he would go on to accomplish the same thing in 1956, the same year in which he would do a double by also winning the 250 cc championship, and the same thing would happen in 1959, one year after he won again (1958) after a dry spell in 1957.

4. Mike Hailwood

The first person to hail from the United Kingdom to cut is Mike Hailwood, who dominated the World Championship in the decade that followed, the 1960s, and won titles in the competition between 1961 and 1967.

His first victory came in the quarter-liter (250 cc) category, bringing him two more wins in 1966 and 1967.

The 500cc queen category was another one that gave him more joy, thanks to the titles that he won between 1962 and 1965.

He won these titles between 1962 and 1965. The remaining two had a capacity of 350 cc (1967 and 1867).

As was the case with the first two protagonists, he notched a number of double victories that propelled him to higher success in a shorter amount of time.

After achieving 76 wins and 112 podium finishes, he decided it was time to hang up his helmet.

Because of the innate ability, he possessed when it came to riding, people in his day referred to him as “Mike the Bike.”

5. Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi, the rider who holds the record for the most victories and awards in the sport’s modern era and is also likely to be among the most well-known to the audience, is the next character to be examined here.

As was mentioned at the beginning of this article, it will be tough to equal Agostini’s record for the simple reason that no rider can simultaneously race in two categories, such as Moto3 and Moto2, or the latter category alongside MotoGP.

As a result, it will be tough to beat Agostini’s record. Because of this, Valentino Rossi is more deserving of praise than the individuals whose names came before him on this list.

Il Doctore will compete in his final race in Valencia, marking the end of his 25-year career in the world championship.

He will leave behind him nine titles: one in the 125 cc class with Aprilia (in 1997), two in the 250 cc class (in 1998) with the same brand, one in the 500 cc class with Honda, and five in the MotoGP class (2002-2005, 2008, and 2009), split between the golden wing brand and Yamaha.

He passed away in 2009. He is the only champion in the most recent iteration of the premier class to have done so with two different teams and two different marques. Everyone will greatly miss him.

6. Marc Marquez

Coetaneous to Rossi, with whom he had a controversy back in 2015 in Sepang for the now-famous kick, Marc Marquez is the next and, in turn, the active rider with the best disposition to break all of the detailed records.

This is thanks to the fact that he has won eight titles. In 2010, he won first place in the 125 cc category with Derbi.

2010 is a year that will be remembered for the incredible comeback signed in Estoril after crashing before the start of the race, starting from the pit lane, and winning the race.

In 2012, the next in Moto2 on a Suter took place, which served as a precursor to what would happen in MotoGP the following year.

He made his debut in the same year (2013) that he won the championship with Honda, and he did so by defeating Jorge Lorenzo in the championship race held at Valencia.

In 2014, he was unbeatable, breaking Mick Doohan’s record for most victories with 13.

He won again in 2016 and would not stop beating until he suffered a severe injury in Jerez in 2020.

He was unbeatable in 2014. However, if Marquez can build on his success from this year, he will likely be at his best in 2022.

7. John Surtees

The success of British organizations and individuals during the 1950s was another defining characteristic of the decade. John Surtees showed his true colors in the second half of this performance.

He won the first-ever 500cc championship while behind the wheel of his MV Augusta (1956).

After a year with no victories to his name, he would go on to be unbeatable in the three years that followed (1958–1960), signing back-to-back doubles and winning in 350cc.

8. Phil Read

Having the duplicate titles as his fellow countryman and his predecessor in this article, strong Between 1964 and 1974, Phil Read wrote his name in history, although the labels did not fall in a row for every single one of them.

The first two victories in the 250cc class came with Yamaha in 1964 and 1965, but the subsequent victories were delayed until 1968, when he resumed his path to winning with a double win in the 125cc and the 250cc classes.

Prior to joining the ranks of MV Augusta, he won the tuning forks brand’s championship in 1971, his final year competing under that name.

In 1973 and 1974, he competed for the transalpine company and won the 500cc title.

9. Geoff Duke

This section of the MotoGP Hall of Fame is reserved for those individuals who have won a total of six championships in their careers.

Another citizen of the United Kingdom, Geoff Duke, is up next.

His name was inscribed on the list of world champions during the first half of the 1950s, and his first two titles came as if they were twins, as he won them in 1951 with a Norton in the 350 cc and 500 cc categories, respectively.

In the first of these, he was successful in retaining the crown.

Already riding a Gilera, he was victorious in the other three consecutive championships that he competed in from 1953 to 1955 in the premier class of the time.

Duke is regarded as the first genuinely dominant member of this cylinder class.

10. Jim Redman

The tenth name that appears in this list is that of a different resident of the United Kingdom. Jim Redman.

This six-time world champion was particularly successful in the 250 and 350 cc displacements, both of which he won with Honda.

His overall performance was exceptional.

In 1962 and 1963, he signed two doubles, and in the two years that followed, he was able to successfully defend the title in the doubles competition that was the largest of the two.

11. Doohan, Mick

With Honda, with whom he became a legend by signing his five title wins in a row, Mick Doohan was the great dominant force in the 500 cc class during the 1990s.

He did this while riding for Honda, which helped him become a legend.

On the other hand, the Australian driver was forced to deal with a severe injury that he sustained in 1992 during the training sessions for the Assen Grand Prix.

As a result, he was unable to compete for the world championship due to the severity of his injury.

In 1997, he won a total of 12 races, which set a record for the most victories in a single season.

However, as was mentioned earlier, this record would be surpassed by Marquez in 2014.

12. Jorge Lorenzo

After ‘lex Crivillé won the championship in 1999, Jorge Lorenzo became the second Spanish rider to win the premier class championship. ‘lex Crivillé’s title was won in 1999.

It happened in 2010 on the Yamaha M1 that, in the two years prior, had helped his teammate Rossi win the previous two championships.

Lorenzo began his legend with two 250cc titles with Aprilia (2006 and 2007).

He would later repeat his feat in 2012 and 2015 in MotoGP after intense and constant battles against Dani Pedrosa and Valentino himself following the penalty of starting last on the grid at the Valencia GP for kicking Marquez.

Lorenzo has the same five-time champion status as Doohan.

13. Anton Mang

There is only one other German in the room, and his name is Anton Mang.

The 1980s were the decade in which he won all five of his championships, and he did so using motorcycles manufactured by Kawasaki and Honda, respectively.

The first one was in 1980, and it was for the quarter-liter class. The year after that, he won both the quarter-liter and the 350cc categories, and then in 1982, he revalidated the latter.

He would not be champion once more until the year 1987, when he won a title once again with the brand of the golden wing, this time in the 250cc category.

Hugh Anderson, number 14

Hugh Anderson, a native of New Zealand, had a tremendous run from 1963 to 1965, during which he won four championship trophies.

This run spanned the years 1963-1965. It was with Suzuki in both the 50cc and 125cc categories, both of which were firsts in their respective years.

15. Kork Ballington

The final protagonist, South African Kork Ballington, signed two double contracts with Kawasaki in 1978 and 1979 for the 250cc and 350cc classes respectively.

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