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...
Full Story »