England have the most wins (26) followed by Japan (10), Scotland (7), Northern Ireland (2) and the Hong Kong, Indonesia, USA, Belgium and Switzerland (all 1).

Michael Rutter has the most wins with 8 followed by Ron Haslam (6), Stuart Easton (4), Sadao Asami and Steve Hislop (3) and Hiroshi Hasegawa, Mick Grant, Steve Plater and Peter Hickman (all 2).

Asami was the first rider to win three races in a row when he completed his hat-trick in 1980 after being victorious in 1978, 1979 and 1980.

This feat was matched by Haslam (1981-1983 and 1985-1987) and Easton (2008-2010).

However, Rutter bettered this in 2005 when he became the first and only rider to win the race four years in a row, 2002-2005.

Rutter’s victories span 14 years having first won in 1998 and his most recent coming in 2012.

Local riders won every race between 1967 and 1975 and it was British bike ace Chas Mortimer who finally broke the Japanese stranglehold with victory in 1976.

Six World Championship race winners have been victorious at Macau – Hiroshi Hasegawa, Hideo Kanaya, Mortimer, Mick Grant, Kevin Schwantz and Didier de Radigues.

Rutter also has the most podiums (17) followed by John McGuinness (8), Asami,Haslam and Phillip McCallen (all 6), Easton and Martin Jessopp (both 5), Akira Terui, Steve Hislop, David Jefferies and Ian Hutchinson (all 4) and Grant, Robert Dunlop, Peter Rubatto, de Radigues, Andreas Hoffmann and Steve Parrish (all 3).

All of Haslam’s six podiums were race wins.

Rutter’s podiums span 20 years with his first coming in 1996 when he took third and the most recent coming in 2016 with second.

Rutter will be the most experienced rider on the grid with 2017 being his 23rd visit to Macau. The next most experienced riders are Horst Saiger and Gary Johnson (10 visits), Jessopp (9 visits) and Conor Cummins and Didier Grams (8 visits).

The first running of the Macau Grand Prix took place in 1967 with Japan's Hasegawa completing 30 laps of the Guia circuit on his Yamaha RD56 in a time of 1hr 53m34s.

After initially being run over a single 30-lap race, the Grand Prix was held over two 15-lap legs from 1979 until 1995 when it reverted back to a single race format albeit only 15 laps. It is now held over just 12 laps.

Last year’s 12-lap race was completed in the considerably shorter time of 29m15.590s

In 1969, Hong Kong’s John MacDonald won the motorcycle GP to become the first - and only - man ever to have won both the Macau Car Grand Prix (1965) and the motorcycle Grand Prix.

The first sub three minute lap was set by Suzuki’s Ken Araoka in 1974 with a new lap record of 2:56.68.

Rutter was the first rider to break the 90mph barrier with a speed of 90.74mph on his Honda RC45 in 1998.

The current lap record stands at 2m23.616s (95.32mph) and was set by Easton in 2010 riding the PBM Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Only four riders have lapped in less than 2m25s – Easton, Rutter, Jessopp and Hickman.

The fastest non-British rider is American Jeremy Toye whose lap of 94.28mph in 2010 makes him the fifth fastest rider of all time.

Glenn Irwin is the fastest newcomer in the history of the event, his lap of 93.92mph in 2016 also placing him seventh on the all-time list.

The most successful manufacturer is Yamaha with 22 wins followed by Honda (15), Suzuki and Kawasaki (both 4), Ducati (3) and BMW (2).