Bastianini victory strengthens Gresini's satellite MotoGP win tally

During the long 15-year wait for Gresini to claim its 15th premier-class victory, courtesy of Enea Bastianini in Qatar on Sunday, it was easy to overlook that the Italian squad remained the most successful Independent team of the MotoGP era.

Gresini's 14 previous wins all came on Honda machinery between 2003 and 2006, with eight victories for Sete Gibernau, five for Marco Melandri and one for Toni Elias. Gibernau (twice) and Melandri also finished title runner-up to Valentino Rossi.

The change to 800cc machines in 2007 brought an instant halt to all satellite team victories, a drought that lasted until Jack Miller's wet Assen win in 2016.

By that time, Gresini had switched from satellite Hondas to Factory Aprilias, a partnership that ran from 2015 until the end of last season.

Sadly, late team boss Fausto Gresini never got to witness the team's only podium with the RS-GP, in the hands of Aleix Espargaro at Silverstone in 2021.

But even that success was nothing compared with the fairy-tale of Qatar, where Bastianini – returning to the team he raced for in Moto3 - took victory on the race debut of the brand new Gresini Ducati project.

It was also the first time in the MotoGP era that an Independent team has undisputedly won races with more than one manufacturer (it depends on if you count Makoto Tamada as a Pons or Pramac rider - or even JiR - while at Camel Honda in 2004).

And while it was the second satellite Ducati win after Pramac's Jorge Martin last season, it was the first for a rider on a year-old Desmosedici.

Bastianini's triumph also means he joins only Gibernau (2004), Cal Crutchlow (2018), Fabio Quartararo (2020) and Johann Zarco (2021) in leading the MotoGP World Championship standings as a satellite rider.

Gresini's 15 satellite MotoGP wins is almost double the number of the next closest Pons team, which took eight victories while Alex Barros, Max Biaggi and Tamada were using its grid places between 2002-2005.

With SRT ceasing operations at the end of last year, the next closest Independent team to Gresini still active in the premier-class is LCR, which won three races with Cal Crutchlow from 2016-2018:

*Includes Makoto Tamada's two victories for the Pons-Pramac 'Camel Honda' partnership in 2004.