MotoGP Guide
• Jorge Lorenzo is the first Yamaha rider to start on pole at four or more successive GP races since Max Biaggi in 2001 on the 500cc two-stroke YZR500.
• If Lorenzo wins the race he will be only the second rider of the four-stroke MotoGP era to win four successive MotoGP races from pole position – the only other rider to have done this is Rossi at the last three races of 2003 on a Honda, and the first race of 2004 on a Yamaha.
• Jorge Lorenzo could also equal the longest sequence of successive premier-class GP wins by a Spanish rider, achieved by Alex Criville in 1999. However the Sachsenring is one of just four current circuits where Lorenzo has not had a victory in any class.
• Second fastest qualifier, Casey Stoner, starts from the front row of the grid for the sixth time in 2010.
• Dani Pedrosa returns to the front row of the grid after not qualifying in the top three at the last two races. Last year at the German GP he was the top Honda rider in 3rd after qualifying down in 8th on the grid.
• Fourth place on the grid equals Andrea Dovizioso’s best ever qualifying result in the MotoGP class, which he has achieved previously on four occasions.
• After missing four races, Valentino Rossi has qualified in fifth place on the grid, which is his worst qualifying result since the final race of 2008 in Valencia.
• Sixth fastest qualifier Hector Barbera, starts from his best grid position since moving up to the MotoGP class. His previous best was eleventh on the grid at Silverstone.
• If Randy de Puniet makes the start of the race after crashing in qualifying, he will extend his sequence of successive Grand Prix starts which currently stands at 189, having never missed a race since becoming a full-time GP rider at the start of 1999.
• Marco Simoncelli has qualified in eighth place on the grid for the third successive race. Simoncelli won the 250cc race at the Sachsenring in both of the last two years.
• Ninth on the grid, Aleix Espargaro has equalled his previous best qualifying performance in the MotoGP class which was at Mugello earlier this year.
Moto2
• Andrea Iannone starts from pole for the third successive race. This is his fourth pole of 2010 and on the three other occasions he has started from pole this year he has had two victories followed by the ride through penalty at Barcelona when leading the race.
• Andrea Iannone has qualified 0.673 seconds faster than the second rider on the grid Arne Tode, but the next 24 riders on the grid are covered by less than a second.
• Arne Tode is making just his eighth Grand Prix start and has qualified on the front row for the first time. This is the best qualifying performance by a German rider across all classes at the Sachsenring since Grand Prix racing returned to the venue in 1998.
• Third fastest qualifier is championship leader Toni Elias, who has not had a podium finish at the Sachsenring circuit since he was second in the 125cc race back in 2001.
• Fourth on the grid is Julian Simon, who has been in the top ten at every Moto2 race with the exception of the first race of the year in Qatar, where he retired with mechanical problems.
• Gabor Talmacsi’s fifth place on the grid is his best qualifying result so far in the Moto2 class. Talmacsi won the 125cc GP race at the Sachsenring in 2007.
125cc GP
• Spanish riders have won the last seventeen 125cc GP races. The last non-Spanish winner in the 125cc class was Andrea Iannone at the Catalan Grand Prix last year.
• Marc Marquez is the first rider to qualify on pole at four successive 125cc GP races since Mattia Pasini in 2007. The pole position time of Marquez is the fastest ever lap of the Sachsenring circuit in the 125cc class, almost eighth-tenths of a second faster than the previous best set by Gabor Talmacsi in 2007.
• Marc Marquez has won the last four 125cc Grand Prix races. If he wins this weekend he will become the first rider to score five or more successive 125cc GP victories since Valentino Rossi in 1997.
• 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 six races in the 125cc class, the longest ever sequence of successive race wins for Derbi. If a Derbi rider wins in Germany it will be their 100th Grand Prix win across all classes.
• Bradley Smith starts from the front row for the fifth successive race. Last year he in Germany he crashed on the first lap and re-started only to crash again on lap four.
• Fourth fastest qualifier Sandro Cortese, starts on the front row for the first time since he was on pole at Mugello.
