MotoGP 2024: 865 falls, Jerez highest, Phillip Island most treacherous corner
A breakdown of the 865 grand prix falls recorded in MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 this season.
There were 865 falls across the MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 classes during the 2024 world championships, a reduction of 144 over the previous year.
Aside from the short 2020 Covid calendar, it was the lowest crash count since 2013, when there were 863 falls over 18 rounds.
For comparison, the 2024 season consisted of 20-rounds, with official stats from MotoGP.com showing that the biggest drop in falls per event came in the Moto2 class.
Moto2 registered an average of 13.4 accidents each weekend (268 total) during the first year of Pirelli tyres, compared with 17.2 in 2023 and a high of 24.8 in 2011.
The Moto3 class, also switching from Dunlop to Pirelli, dropped from a 15.4 average last year to 13.1 (262 total).
Meanwhile, MotoGP reduced its total falls slightly from 358 to 335, or an average of 17.9 to 16.8 per weekend, during the second season of Sprint races.
Most MotoGP falls on Friday afternoon
Of the 335 falls in the MotoGP class, the most ‘dangerous ‘ track session of a race weekend was Friday afternoon practice with 91 spills across the season.
Then came the grand prix race with 80 and the Sprint race with 68.
The two untimed sessions were unsurprisingly the safest with only eight accidents during Sunday warm-up and eleven in the half-hour Saturday morning practice.
By contrast, the importance and stress of Qualifying was underlined by 37 accidents in the 15-minute Q2 sessions.
In Moto2 and Moto3, the races were far and away the most accident-packed sessions, with 102 and 91 spills respectively.
Jerez the trickiest Grand Prix of 2024
The Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez (which saw damp conditions on Saturday) produced the most accidents this season at 74, followed by Mandalika at 67 and Phillip Island at 64.
Those numbers were well below the highest weekend totals in recent years, led by 155 accidents at Valencia 2018 and 118 at Le Mans 2021.
The ‘safest’ event this season was the opening round in Qatar with 28 falls. Aragon (despite a dirty new surface) and Mugello had 29. All three were fully dry events.
Turn 4 at Phillip Island the 'riskiest corner'
The corner-by-corner breakdown shows the most likely place for a rider to fall this season was Turn 4 (Miller Hairpin) at Phillip Island, which saw 29 accidents in all classes during this year’s Australian Grand Prix.
Weather was a factor, with wet conditions for the Moto2 and Moto3 classes during part of Friday and Saturday.
Turn 2 - the new chicane - at the Red Bull Ring (a fully dry event) was the next highest on 19.
Turn 1 at Sachsenring and Turn 16 at Mandalika both saw 15 falls.
Injuries
More important than the number of accidents are the consequences, which were recorded in the official notes as follows.
The majority of 'rider unfit' injuries were to the hands or feet.
Qatar:
- David Almanza, Moto3: Rider declared unfit for a hand fracture.
- Jake Dixon, Moto2: Rider declared unfit.
Portimao:
- Angel Piqueras, Moto3: Rider declared unfit due to a hand fracture.
COTA:
- David Almanza, Moto3: Rider declared unfit due to further trauma to his injured hand.
Jerez:
- Aron Canet, Moto2: Rider declared unfit due to a broken ankle.
Assen:
- Joe Roberts, Moto2: Rider declared unfit due to a right collarbone fracture.
- Xavi Cardelus, Moto2: Rider declared unfit due to a right foot fracture.
- Aleix Espargaro, MotoGP: Rider declared unfit.
Red Bull Ring:
- Ai Ogura, Moto2: Rider declared unfit.
- Alex Escrig, Moto2: Rider declared unfit due to a fracture in his right foot.
Aragon:
- Nicola Carraro, Moto3: Rider declared unfit.
- Vicente Perez, Moto3: Rider declared unfit.
Mandalika:
- Miguel Oliveira, MotoGP: Rider declared unfit due to a right wrist fracture.
Motegi:
- Daniel Munoz, Moto3: Rider declared unfit due to right ankle fracture.
- Tatchakorn Buasri, Moto3: Rider declared unfit due to a rib fracture.
Phillip Island:
- Joe Roberts, Moto2: Rider declared unfit due to a right scaphoid fracture.
Buriram:
- Fermin Aldeguer, Moto2: Rider has been declared unfit due to a left hand fracture.
Sepang:
- Ayumu Sasaki, Moto2: Rider declared unfit on Saturday before P2 due to a small right wrist fracture and ankle trauma.
- Joel Esteban, Moto3: Rider declared unfit due to a humerus fracture.
- Jeremy Alcoba, Moto2: Rider declared unfit due to a left hand fracture.
* The injuries listed “were updated only on race day, so their complete injury description may be incomplete as riders usually underwent further medical tests outside of the circuits”.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
