MotoGP Report
• Jorge Lorenzo starts from pole for the third successive race. If he wins the race he will be the first Yamaha rider to win three successive premier-class races from pole since Eddie Lawson in 1986. This is only the second time that Lorenzo has raced in the top class at the Catalunya circuit as he missed the race in 2008 after crashing in the second free practice session and suffering concussion.
• Valentino Rossi’s victory in 2006 is the only occasion that the premier- class race at Catalunya has been won from pole position during the four-stroke MotoGP era.
• Second on the grid, Casey Stoner starts from his best grid position since he was on pole at the opening race of the year.
• Randy de Puniet, who starts from the front row for the third successive race, has twice won at the Catalunya circuit in the 250cc class. He will be aiming to become the first non-factory Honda rider to finish on the podium since Alex de Angelis was second at the Indianapolis GP last year.
• Heading the second row is Dani Pedrosa, who will be aiming to score back-to-back podiums for the first time in 2010.
• Fifth on the grid is the best qualifying result for Ben Spies at the circuits where he has not previously raced.
• Andrea Dovizioso has finished fourth at the Catalan Grand Prix in both of the last two years.
• Seventh on the grid for Loris Capirossi is his best qualifying result since he was fifth fastest qualifier at the opening race of the year in Qatar.
• Alvaro Bautista has qualified in 9th place on the grid, which is his best qualifying result since joining the factory Suzuki team. This is the first time since the GP at Laguna Seca last year that Suzuki have had two riders qualify inside the top ten.
• Following Lorenzo’s victory at the Dutch TT, Yamaha and Honda have both had 56 victories with their 4-stroke MotoGP bikes.
Moto2
• The top 39 riders on the Moto2 grid are separated by just 1.946 seconds.
• Andrea Iannone, who won the 125cc GP race last year in Catalunya, starts from pole for the third time in 2010. On each of the previous two occasions he has been on pole this year he has gone on to win the race.
• Second fastest in qualifying, Yuki Takahashi has equalled his best grid position of the year, which he took previously at Le Mans.
• Thomas Luthi has qualified in third place on the grid – his second front row start of 2010. In Assen he qualified fifth but started on the front row because Debon was injured and did not start the race.
• Toni Elias will be aiming to reach the end of a race at the Catalunya circuit for the first time since he was third in the 250cc race in 2004.
• Substitute rider Carmelo Morales, who is making his Grand Prix debut at the age of 31, has qualified in sixth place on the grid.
125 GP
• Spanish riders have won the last sixteen 125cc races. The last non-Spanish winner in the 125cc class was Andrea Iannone at this circuit last year.
• A win for any of the Spanish riders would make it 150 GP victories in the 125cc class for riders from Spain.
• Marc Marquez starts from pole for the third successive race. He is the youngest ever rider to have three successive pole positions in GP racing, taking the record from Valentino Rossi.
• If Marc Marquez wins the race he will become the youngest ever rider to take four successive Grand Prix wins, taking the record from Valentino Rossi.
• Second fastest qualifier, Pol Espargaro, maintains his record of starting on the front row at every race in 2010.
• Derbi riders have won the last five races in the 125cc race. Another win for Derbi would give the Spanish manufacturer their longest ever run of successive wins.
• Bradley Smith starts from the front row for the fourth successive race. Smith will be aiming to improve on his previous best GP result at this circuit which is 6th in 2007.
• Taking the final place on the front row is Nico Terol, who has finished in the top four at each of the first six races of the year.