GAS BRITISH GRAND PRIX - SUNDAY GUIDE
02 July 2006 - Moto GP

Sunday 2nd July 2006

· Dani Pedrosa starts from pole for the third time in 2006. No other rider has had more than a single pole this year.

· The top fifteen riders on the grid have lapped inside the current lap record set in 2004 by Colin Edwards.

· Chris Vermeulen has qualified on the front row in dry conditions for the first time. This is the best qualifying result by a Suzuki rider at Donington since Kenny Roberts was second in 2000.

· Marco Melandri has only completed two race laps at Donington in the last two years. Melandri starts from the front row for the first time since the last race of 2005 at Valencia.

· John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen are aiming to score the first victory for Suzuki at Donington since Kevin Schwantz in 1994.

· Loris Capirossi is aiming for his first podium in the premier-class at Donington having finished fourth on three occasions.

· Randy de Puniet has qualified in front of his team-mate Shinya Nakano for the second time this year, the other occasion being in Turkey.

· Casey Stoner has finished in the top six in each of the six races he has finished in his debut MotoGP season.

· Kenny Roberts finished second at Donington last year, his only podium of 2005.

· Colin Edwards has scored points at the last 29 successive races.

· Valentino Rossi is starting from his lowest ever grid position at Donington. He qualified eleventh in 2001 and went on to win the race.

· Carlos Checa will be making his 166th start in the premier-class to move into second place in the all time appearances list behind Alex Barros, who has 227.

· Jorge Lorenzo is starting from pole for the sixth time in 2006. He has won four times from pole already this year.

· Andrea Dovizioso is the first rider in the 250cc class to finish on the podium at the first eight races of the year since Toni Mang in 1980.

· Hiroshi Aoyama is starting from the front row for the first time on the KTM machine. This is also the first ever front row for KTM in the class.

· Just three riders have scored points at each of the first eight races of the year: Andrea Dovizioso, Yuki Takahashi and Roberto Locatelli.

· Andrea Dovizioso, Alex de Angelis and Jorge Lorenzo have appeared together on the podium at the last three races.

· Alvaro Bautista starts from pole for the fourth time in 2006.

· Bautista’s second place at Donington in 2004 was his best ever result before the start of this season.

· Bautista’s pole is the fastest ever lap at Donington by a 125cc rider, more than one second faster than the previous best.

· The top seventeen riders on the grid have lapped faster than the official lap record set by Bautista in 2004.

· Following his victory at Assen, Mika Kallio will be aiming to score back-to-back victories for the first time in his Grand Prix career.

· Mattia Pasini has failed to finish the race on his previous two visits to Donington, having crashed on both occasions.

· Just three riders have managed to score points at each of the first eight races of the year: team-mates Alvaro Bautista, Hector Faubel and Sergio Gadea.

· Bradley Smith’s thirteenth place on the grid is his best ever qualifying result and the best by a British rider in the class since Darren Barton qualified 13th at Donington in 1996.

· At Assen Lukas Pesek scored points in three successive races for the first time in his Grand Prix career.

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