What year saw the first MotoGP race?

The first race in the MotoGP class took place in 2002.

The 2002 season marked the beginning of the MotoGP era, replacing the 500cc category as Grand Prix motorcycle racing’s premier class. The inaugural MotoGP-class race was the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on April 7, 2002. Honda rider Tohru Ukawa won that race, with teammate Valentino Rossi finishing second.

The transition was driven by new technical rules that permitted four-stroke engines of up to 990cc to compete alongside the outgoing 500cc two-strokes. Rossi went on to win the first MotoGP premier-class championship on Honda’s RC211V, completing a successful transition from the old 500cc format.

The common confusion is between MotoGP and the wider motorcycle World Championship. Grand Prix motorcycle racing began in 1949, while the championship officially adopted the MotoGP name and class structure in 2002. So 2002 is the correct answer for the first MotoGP race, not the first motorcycle Grand Prix ever held.