Jerez MotoGP Race Day Guide – By Dr. Martin Raines
- Jorge Lorenzo has qualified on pole for the first time since the San Marino Grand Prix last year. Lorenzo has failed to win in the MotoGP class from the four previous times he has started on pole at Jerez.
- This is the first pole of the year for Yamaha. No Yamaha rider has won from pole since Jorge Lorenzo won at Motegi in 2013.
- In second place on the grid is Marc Marquez, who had his first GP win at Jerez last year.
- Andrea Iannone is in third place on the grid – his second successive front row start. Iannone’s only top ten finish at Jerez was a win in the Moto2 class in 2011.
- Pol Espargaro heads the second row of the grid, his best qualifying result since he was 4th fastest qualifier at Aragon last year. Espargaro has won at Jerez in both the 125cc class and the Moto2 class.
- In fifth place on the grid is Valentino Rossi, who has been the first Yamaha rider across the line at the last six races. If Rossi finishes in the top three he will be the first rider to reach the milestone of 200 podium finishes in grand prix racing.
- Completing the second row is Aleix Espargaro, equalling the best ever qualifying result at Jerez by a Suzuki rider in the MotoGP era, achieved by John Hopkins in 2007 and Loris Capirossi in 2009.
- Cal Crutchlow, who is in seventh place on the grid, will be aiming to get on the podium for the first time at Jerez after finishing 4th at the Spanish GP in 2012 and 5th in 2013.
- Andrea Dovizioso is in eighth place on the grid, his worst grid position so far in 2015. Jerez is one of just two current circuits where Dovizioso has not had a podium in the MotoGP class, along with Misano.
- Completing the third row is Yonny Hernandez, whose 14th place last year at Jerez is his only point scoring finish from his three starts in the MotoGP class at the circuit.
- Bradley Smith is starting from tenth place on the grid for the third successive race.
Moto2
- The winners of the first three Moto2 races of the year have all been first time winners in the class. There have not been four successive first time intermediate-class winners since the last three 250cc GP races of the 1971 season and opening race of the 1972 season; the riders on that occasion were Ray McCullough, Gyula Marsovszky, Jarno Saarinen and Hideo Kanaya.
- Tito Rabat is on pole for the first time since the final Moto2 race of last year in Valencia. From his previous thirteen poles in Moto2 Rabat has finished on the podium on twelve occasions, including seven race wins.
- Alex Rins starts from second place on the grid, his first front row start in only his fourth race in the Moto2 class. Rins is aiming to become the fourth youngest rider to win in the Moto2 class, after Marc Marquez, Maverick Viñales and Shoya Tomizawa.
- Jonas Folger has qualified on the front row for the first time since he was on pole at Le Mans last year. Folger finished third last year in Jerez, in just his fourth start in the Moto2 class.
- Heading the second row of the grid is Thomas Luthi who has finished on the podium three times at Jerez in the Moto2 class.
- In fifth place on the grid is Takaaki Nakagami – his best qualifying result since he was fifth on the grid at Assen last year.
- Sam Lowes has qualified in sixth place on the grid and the highest placed Speed Up rider.
- Last year’s Moto2 winner at Jerez, Mika Kallio, is down in 18th place on the grid with a lap time less than a second slower than the pole position lap by Tito Rabat.
Moto3
- Fabio Quartararo starts from pole for the first time, in only his fourth grand prix appearance. At the age of 16 years 13 days he is the second youngest rider of all-time to start a grand prix race from pole position, after Marco Melandri who started the 125cc race at the Sachsenring from pole in 1998 at the age of 15 years 346 days. If Quartararo wins the race he will become the youngest rider ever to win a grand prix race from pole position, taking the record from Maverick Viñales.
- Danny Kent is on the front row for the third successive race. Kent is aiming to become the first British rider in any of the grand prix classes to win three successive races since Barry Sheene in the 500cc class in 1977.
- In third place on the grid is Miguel Oliveira; his third successive front row start. Oliveira has had four career podium finishes but is still aiming to become the first Portuguese rider to win a grand prix.
- Brad Binder, who finished 4th at Jerez two years ago, heads the second row of the grid equalling his best qualifying result in grand prix racing.
- In fifth place on the grid is Phillip Oettl, which is his best qualifying result since the Aragon GP of 2013 when he was 4th fastest qualifier.
- Taking the final place on the second row is Karel Hanika, who had his best ever GP result two weeks ago in Argentina when he finished seventh.
- The top seven riders on the Moto3 grid are riders from seven different nationalities.
- In eighth place on the grid is Romano Fenati, the winner at Jerez twice in the last three years – on each occasion from 10th place on the grid.
