From a press release issued by Dorna:

MotoGP

· Valentino Rossi starts from pole for the fourth time in 2004. If Rossi fails to finish in the top three in the race it will be the first time he has failed to do so in three consecutive races since his first premier-class podium at Jerez in 2000.

· Rossi’s pole position time is the fastest ever lap of the Donington circuit by a motorcycle, more than two seconds faster than Biaggi’s record pole time from last year. The top nineteen riders on the grid have lapped faster than last year’s pole position record.

· Sete Gibernau starts from the front row for the seventh time this year. Gibernau’s second place finish at Donington last year was his first podium at the circuit.

· Loris Capirossi starts from the front row for the first time since the final race of last year at Valencia.

· Fourth place on the grid is the best qualifying result for Troy Bayliss since he qualified in the same position at his home GP at Philip Island last year.

· Colin Edwards’ fifth place on the grid equals his best ever grid position in MotoGP, having also qualified fifth at both Welkom and Le Mans earlier this year.

· Nicky Hayden has finished in third place at the last two races, his first back-to-back podiums in MotoGP.

· Carlos Checa’s best result at Donington was achieved in 2001 when he finished fifth.

· Following his victory at Sachsenring, Max Biaggi is aiming to score back-to-back wins in the premier class for the first time in his career.

· Colin Edwards and Max Biaggi are the only two riders in the MotoGP class to have scored points at each of the first eight races of 2004.

· Alex Barros, who missed the British GP last year due to an injury sustained in a collision with Yukio Kagayama in the morning warm-up session, has finished on the podium on three occasions at Donington.

· Nobuatsu Aoki will be making his 100th start in the premier-class.


250cc

· If any of the Aprilia riders win the race it will be the 100th GP victory for the Italian factory in the class.

· Alex De Angelis starts from pole position for the first time in a 250cc GP in what is only his ninth start in the class.

· Sebastian Porto has qualified on the front row of the grid at each of the first nine races of the year.

· Hiroshi Aoyama has qualified on the front row for the first time since he started from pole as a wildcard at Suzuka last year.

· If Dani Pedrosa wins it will be the first time in his Grand Prix career that he will have scored back-to-back victories.

· Randy De Puniet has failed to qualify on the front row of the grid for the first time in 2004.

· Alex Debon, Fonsi Nieto and Randy De Puniet are the only three riders in the 250cc class to have scored points at each of the first eight races of 2004.

· Chaz Davies has equalled his best ever qualifying result in 12th place. Davies’ time beats Daijiro Kato’s lap record from 2001 and is the fastest ever lap of Donington by a British rider on a 250.


125cc

· Andrea Dovizioso starts from pole for the fourth time this year and for the first time in his career at back-to-back races. Dovizioso is the first rider to finish in the top four in the first eight races of the year in the 125cc class since 1987 when Fausto Gresini won the first ten races of the year.

· The top ten riders on the grid have improved on the record pole time set last year by Stefano Perugini.

· Hector Barbera, who has now finished in the points at the last eighteen consecutive races, scored his debut victory at Donington last year.

· Mika Kallio starts from the front row for the first time since Phillip Island ‘03.

· Simone Corsi’s fourth place on the grid equals his qualifying performance, set at the same circuit last year. This is also the first time this year that Honda have had two riders on the front row.

· Youichi Ui starts from his best grid position since he qualified second at Le Mans last year. Donington is the only circuit where Ui has won more than once.

· Following his victory in Germany, if Roberto Locatelli wins the British Grand Prix he will end a record sequence of thirty-one races without a rider in the 125cc class winning back to back races, since Arnaud Vincent won at Donington and then Sachsenring in 2002.