Race Day Guide Jerez MotoGP 2016

Official Statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines

For the third successive race the same three riders are on the front row of the grid in MotoGP.
Valentino Rossi starts from pole for the 62nd time across all classes, the same number of poles that Jorge Lorenzo has had during his GP career. Rossi will be aiming to win for the first time since the British GP at Silverstone last year.

This is just the fourth time that Rossi has started from pole since the end of the 2009 season. The other three were; Le Mans in 2010, Valencia 2014 and at the Dutch TT last year. The last time that Rossi started from pole at Jerez was in 2005.
Yamaha have taken the top two places on the grid for the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix last year.
Jorge Lorenzo is in second place on the grid – the ninth successive year he has been on the front row at Jerez in the MotoGP class.

Marc Marquez starts from third place on the grid, which is his worst qualifying performance since he was third fastest qualifier at Motegi last year.
Andrea Dovizioso heads the second row of the grid and is the fastest Ducati rider in qualifying. That is his best qualifying result since he was 4th on the grid at Motegi last year. Jerez is one of just three current circuits where he has not had a podium in the MotoGP class, along with Misano and the Red Bull Ring that is being used for the first time this year
In fifth place on the grid is Maverick Viñales, which is the best ever qualifying result by a Suzuki rider at Jerez in the MotoGP era of grand prix racing.

Aleix Espargaro takes the final place on the second row – the first time since Catalunya last year that both Suzuki riders have qualified in the top six places on the grid.
Dani Pedrosa is in seventh place on the grid. The last time he started a race at Jerez and was not on the front row was when he was in 5th place on the grid in his Rookie MotoGP season of 2006.
The highest placed of the Independent Team riders is Pol Espargaro in eighth place on the grid. Pol Espargaro has won at Jerez in both the 125cc class (2010) and Moto2 (2012).
Alvaro Bautista heads the fifth row of the grid – his best qualifying performance since joining the Aprilia factory team at the start of last year.

Championship leader Sam Lowes starts from pole for the second time this year and for the fifth time in his Moto2 career. Lowes is aiming to be the first British rider to win intermediate-class GP races in successive seasons since Chas Mortimer in 1974 & 1975.

Jonas Folger, the Moto2 winner at Jerez last year, starts from second place on the grid.
Sandro Cortese is in third place on the grid – his first front row start since the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2014.
This is the first time since the Rio Grand Prix in 1996 that German riders have taken two of the top three places on the grid in the intermediate-class of grand prix racing. At Rio in 1996 Ralf Waldmann qualified in second place on the grid and Jurgen Fuchs in third.
Franco Morbidelli heads the second row of the grid – his best qualifying result since the German Grand Prix last year.
In fifth place on the grid is Tom Luthi, who has had three podium finishes at Jerez in the Moto2 class.
World Champion Johann Zarco starts from 16th place on the grid – his worst qualifying result since he was 20th fastest qualifier at Le Mans in 2014.

Nicolo Bulega starts from pole for the first time in grand prix racing in just his fifth start in the Moto3 class. Bulega is the second youngest Italian rider (after Marco Melandri) to start from pole in grand prix racing.

If Bulega wins the race he will be the fourth youngest Italian rider to score a grand prix win, after Marco Melandri, Romano Fenati and Ivan Goi.
The last rider to win a Moto3/125cc GP from pole at Jerez was Marco Simoncelli in 2005, and no rider has won a Moto3 race from pole since Enea Bastianini at Misano last year.
In second place on the grid is championship leader Brad Binder, who has finished on the podium at the first three Moto3 races of the year. Binder will be aiming to be the first ever South African to win a grand prix in the lightweight-class and the first South African to win a GP in any class since Jon Ekerold won the 350cc race at Monza in 1981.
In third place on the grid is Jorge Navarro who has finished on the podium six times in the last eight races but has yet to stand on the top step.
Heading the second row of the grid is Francesco Bagnaia – his best qualifying result since the French GP last year when he was third fastest qualifier.
In fifth place on the grid is the winner of the opening Moto3 race of the year, Niccolo Antonelli, who has failed to finish for the last three years at Jerez.