Rossi, Lorenzo, Vinales... Jack Miller next to attempt MotoGP three-peat

Jack Miller’s KTM move puts him in contention to become the first rider in history to take ‘MotoGP’ wins with three different manufacturers.

Peter McLaren

16 Jan 2023

Johann Zarco, Maverick Vinales, Jack Miller, British MotoGP, 6 August

Only four riders have won premier-class races on three different brands of bike, an impressive feat of riding talent, since the world championship began in 1949.

Mike Hailwood was the first, courtesy of 500cc victories for Norton, MV Agusta and Honda during the 1960s.

Over a decade later, Randy Mamola matched the Englishman with wins for Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha in the 1980s.

Fellow American Eddie Lawson joined the ‘three-peat’ list when, after 26 wins with Yamaha and four for Honda between 1984-1989, he took a final career win with Cagiva in 1992.

Loris Capirossi added his name to the elite group when, after a 500cc victory for Yamaha (1996) and then Honda (2000) he took Ducati to its first MotoGP win, now in the new four-stroke era, at Catalunya 2003. It was the first of Capirossi's seven wins on a Desmosedici.

But no other rider has joined the list in the last 20 years.

That includes seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, who took a total of 79 victories with Honda and Yamaha before moving to Ducati for 2010-11 - but was unable to triumph on the Desmosedici.

Next up was Rossi's former team-mate and fellow multiple MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo, who added three Ducati victories to the 44 he had achieved at Yamaha from 2008-2016, but then also fell short of achieving the 'triple' due to a miserable campaign at Repsol Honda in 2019.

Francesco Bagnaia, MotoGP race, British MotoGP, 7 August

Vinales missed out by 0.4s in 2022

Following Lorenzo’s retirement, no other MotoGP rider was in contention until Maverick Vinales, who had taken over Lorenzo’s Yamaha seat in 2017, made a shock exit from the M1 and joined Aprilia in late 2021.

Vinales had taken his first premier-class win with Suzuki in 2016, then eight more victories for Yamaha, meaning he also had the chance to become the first rider to win on three different machines from the four-stroke ‘MotoGP’ era (2002 onwards).

"It would be a dream to win with three manufacturers, I’d be the only one to do it," Vinales said.

After 25 races on the RS-GP, it currently remains a dream. But Vinales got very close at Silverstone last season, finishing second to Francesco Bagnaia by just 0.426s.

The Spaniard also took third places at Assen (+1.2s) and Misano (+4.2s), while team-mate Aleix Espargaro won in Argentina.

Can Miller beat Maverick to it?

While Vinales will be confident of fighting for victory once again in 2023, he now has competition to become the first winner on three different MotoGP-era bikes in the form of Jack Miller.

The Australian shocked with a wet weather win for Marc VDS Honda in the 2016 Dutch TT, the first victory by a satellite rider since Toni Elias in 2006, then took three more wins as a factory Ducati rider during 2021-2022.

Miller now starts his own ‘three-peat’ quest after moving to KTM, a factory that has won seven MotoGP races in the past three seasons.

Vinales and Miller are the only current riders with MotoGP wins for more than one factory.

However, three others will be seeking to join them this year: Ex-Suzuki team-mates Alex Rins (4 wins) and Joan Mir (1), who have now switched to Honda, plus Miguel Oliveira (5), who made way for Miller at KTM and has signed for RNF Aprilia.