Lecuona tops 2021 MotoGP falls list, Marquez most per event

Iker Lecuona topped the list of MotoGP fallers during the 2021 season, although in terms of most per event Marc Marquez had an even higher tally.

Official MotoGP stats classed Tech3 KTM's Lecuona as falling on 26 occasions during the 18-round season, meaning all sessions during grands prix weekends, or an average of 1.4 times per event.

But Marquez, who missed four rounds due to injury, risked his healing right arm by falling 22 times from his Repsol Honda for a higher average of 1.6 accidents per event.

The difficult nature of this year's Honda was underlined by team-mate Pol Espargaro doubling his accident tally from 10 to 20 after moving from KTM, with LCR's Alex Marquez just behind on 19 falls (five more than in his 14-round rookie season).

Other notable increases were a rise from 12 to 18 for Pol's older brother Aleix Espargaro at Aprilia (his highest since 2017) and from 2 to 10 accidents for Lecuona's team-mate Danilo Petrucci (most since 2016) who switched to KTM from Ducati this year.

Marquez previously led the MotoGP falls list with 27 on his way to the 2017 crown, remaining on top despite lowering to 23 in 2018.

Johann Zarco was the most prolific MotoGP crasher during 2019 (17 out of his 16 rounds) and 2020 (15), but reduced his tally to just 10 this season on the way to a career-best fifth in the standings for Pramac Ducati.

Monster Yamaha's new world champion Fabio Quartararo and Ducati Lenovo title rival Francesco Bagnaia had the least accidents of any riders that completed the full 18-round season, with 7 falls each.

Former champion Joan Mir dropped his Suzuki 8 times, with 9 falls for KTM's Brad Binder, Petronas Yamaha's Valentino Rossi (in his final season) and younger brother Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati), the lowest by a rookie this year.

Although he missed three rounds, Maverick Vinales continued his low accident tally with just 4 crashes after a mid-season switch from Yamaha to Aprilia. Factory Yamaha replacement Franco Morbidelli, who skipped five rounds due to knee surgery, only fell 2 times.

Andrea Dovizioso, who has traditionally made the least mistakes of any rider in recent years while at Ducati, didn't register a single fall during his five end-of-season appearances for Petronas Yamaha.

Yamaha stand-in Cal Crutchlow (who fell 26 times during 2016 at Honda) and Suzuki test rider Sylvain Guintoli were the only other MotoGP riders not to fall during any of their appearances this season.

Aron Canet topped the Moto2 list with 21 falls, with Kaito Toba leading Moto3 on 19.