ALICE GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE - SUNDAY GUIDE
21 May 2006 - Moto GP

For the third successive race there are three different manufacturers represented on the front row of the MotoGP grid.

· Dani Pedrosa is the youngest ever rider to have back-to-back pole positions in the elite of Grand Prix racing.

· If Pedrosa wins the race he will become the youngest rider ever to take back-to-back MotoGP victories and it would also make him the first rider to have won in all three classes at Le Mans.

· Second place on the grid is Shinya Nakano’s best qualifying result since he joined Kawasaki at the start of 2004. This is also the first time that Kawasaki has had two riders qualify in the top four places.

· Nakano’s second place is also the best ever qualifying result for Kawasaki in the MotoGP class.

· John Hopkins, who celebrates his 23rd birthday on Monday, is starting from the front row for the second successive race.

· Randy de Puniet, who has finished on the podium for the last four years in the 250cc class, will be starting from his best grid position since stepping up to MotoGP at the start of the season.

· If De Puniet finishes in the top three he would be the first French rider to finish on the podium in the premier-class at his home Grand Prix since Christian Sarron was second at Paul Ricard in 1988.

· Fifth place on the grid is Marco Melandri’s best qualifying result so far in 2006.

· Loris Capirossi, who won the 250cc race at Le Mans back in 1994, has been the first Ducati across the line at the first four races of this year.

· Valentino Rossi has failed to qualify on the front row for the seventh successive race, since he was second on the grid in Australia last year.

· Le Mans is the only circuit at which Sete Gibernau has taken two Grand Prix victories, having won there in both 2003 and 2004.

· Carlos Checa will be making his 100th premier-class appearance for Yamaha. Only Norick Abe has a higher total for the factory (143).

· Nicky Hayden is starting from his lowest grid position since he was 14th at the Australian GP in 2004

· Andrea Dovizioso starts from pole for the first time since moving to the class at the start of last year.

· This is the first pole of the year for Honda in the class.

· Alex de Angelis continues his good qualifying record, having appeared on the front row eleven times in the last fourteen races.

· Hector Barbera is starting from the front row for the fourth time in 2006.

· Yuki Takahashi is aiming to finish on the podium for the first time since becoming a full time Grand Prix rider at the start of last year.

· Sixth on the grid is the best qualifying result for Jakub Smrz since he joined the class; his previous best was seventh in Qatar at the second race of this year.

· Jorge Lorenzo is starting from his lowest grid position since the Portuguese Grand Prix in April of last year.

· Mattia Pasini starts from pole for the second time in his Grand Prix career, the other being at the first race of this year at Jerez.

· Alvaro Bautista is the only rider in the 125cc class to have qualified on the front row at each of the five races this year.

· If Bautista finishes in the top three in France he will become the first rider in the 125cc class since Haruchika Aoki in 1996 to start the year with five successive podium finishes.

· Lukas Pesek starts from the front row for the third time in the first five races of 2006.

· Gabor Talmacsi is the first Honda rider in the 125cc class to qualify on the front row this season.

· Lorenzo Zanetti’s fifth place on the grid is the first time he has qualified in the top ten since he was fourth in Catalunya last year.

· Mika Kallio has had a great run of results since the start of last year, having finished on the podium on twelve occasions including five victories.

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