MotoGP Most Championship Wins

Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, better known as MotoGP, is the top professional racing league for motorcycles in the world. Riders can compete in four different classes: 990cc (four-cylinder bikes), 600cc (four-stroke engine bikes), 250cc (two-cylinder bikes), and electronic bikes. However, these classes have changed a number of times throughout the history of the sport, and champions can be seen with a variety of different racing machines. Races are fast and dangerous and require expert levels of skill to maneuver around tight turns at high speeds. Below, you can read about the winningest riders in MotoGP history.

What MotoGP Riders Have The Most Championship Wins?

• Giacomo Agostini - 15 Championships
• Angel Nieto - 13 Championships
• Valentino Rossi - 9 Championships
• Mike Hailwood - 9 Championships
• Carlo Ubbiali - 9 Championships

Giacomo Agostini

Giacomo Agostini is the most successful MotoGP rider in history. He won a record 15 championships during his 17-year career and did so across two different classes. Eight of his wins came in the 500cc class (the equivalent of the 990cc class today), and he won another seven championships in the 350cc class (the equivalent of the 600cc class today). Agostini was a natural when it came to winning, as he posted 122 wins in his career, the most of all time. Even more impressive, there were far fewer races in MotoGP back in the sixties and seventies, and so his win rate of 47 percent in the 500cc class is actually the highest ever. Agostini also had three consecutive seasons where he won every race he competed in, showcasing his true dominance of the sport.

Angel Nieto

Like Agostini, Angel Nieto competed in the late sixties and seventies, when the racing classes looked much different than today. He won seven titles in the 125cc class (equivalent to the 250cc class today), but he was also immensely successful in smaller-class races. Nieto won six world championships in the 50cc class, where bikes were limited to a single-cylinder engine. The class was introduced in 1962 as a way to lower manufacturing costs for some companies, but it was excluded from the sport in 1989. Nieto won a total of 90 races during his career, good for the third-most of all time. 

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi is seen by many as the most successful rider of the modern era, posting nine world titles during his outstanding career in MotoGP. He won the 125cc championship in 1997 and the 250cc championship in 1999, but his biggest achievements came in the sport’s top class. He won the last-ever 500cc championship in 2001 before the class was upgraded to 990cc, but that change did not slow him down at all. Rossi went on to win four-straight 990cc championships from 2002-2005 and repeated as champion in 2008 and 2009. His 115 wins are the second-most in the history of the sport behind only Agostini, and his 89 wins in the top class (both 500 and 990cc) are the most ever.

Mike Hailwood

Mike Hailwood was one of the sport’s first true superstars. At the age of 17, he competed in his first professional race, and by 21, he had won his first championship in the 250cc class. He would go on to win back-to-back 250cc championships in 1966 and 1967, but there was much more to his career than that. Hailwood was revered for his ability to win on bikes of all sizes, grabbing the 1967 championship in the 350cc class and also dominating the 500cc class. Hailwood won four-straight 500cc championships from 1962-65, becoming the first racer to ever do so. He won 76 races during his career, exactly half the number of competitions he appeared in.

Carlo Ubbiali

Before Hailwood, there was Carlo Ubbiali. At just 19 years old in 1948, Ubbiali put himself on the racing map when he came in second at the 125cc World Championship. Three years later, he won his first title in the class, and from 1955-1960 he won five more 125cc championships. Ubbiali was also an excellent 250cc rider, winning a title in 1956 before repeating in the class as champion in 1959 and 1960. He only made 71 starts during his career but won 39 times, giving him a whopping 55 percent win rate.

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