From a press release issued by Dorna Sports:

Losail, 2nd October 2004
STATISTICS 2004
Marlboro Grand Prix of Qatar ROUND 13
Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines

SATURDAY GUIDE

MotoGP

· With less than six tenths of a second covering the top ten riders, this is the closest grid of the year in the MotoGP class.

· Carlos Checa starts from pole for the third time in his career and for the first time since 2002 at Estoril. Checa is the top Yamaha rider on the grid for the second time this year, the other being at Le Mans in May.

· Alex Barros starts from the front row for just the second time this year, his other being at Brno. For the first time in 2004 Barros is the top Honda rider on the grid.

· Sete Gibernau, who starts from the front row for the tenth time this year, finished on the podium at the first six races of 2004 but has had just two podium finishes in the last six races.

· For the third time this year Shinya Nakano starts from fifth place on the grid. Nakano’s third place finish in Japan was the first podium for a Kawasaki rider since Kork Ballington finished third at Imatra in Finland in 1981 riding the square-four two-stoke machine.

· For the eighth time this year Loris Capirossi is the top Ducati rider on the grid.

· Seventh place on the grid equals Ruben Xaus’ best qualifying result of the year, which he achieved at Catalunya.

· If Valentino Rossi wins the Grand Prix of Qatar it will be his seventh win of the year. This would equal the record for most wins in a season in the premier-class by a Yamaha rider, previously achieved by Eddie Lawson in 1986 and 1988, and by Wayne Rainey in 1990.

· Rossi’s eighth place on the grid equals his worst qualifying of the year at Rio. This is only the third time in 2004 that Rossi has not qualified on the front row.

· Following his victory at Motegi, if Makoto Tamada wins in Qatar he will become the first Japanese rider ever to take back-to-back wins in the premier-class.

· Qatar becomes the 27th country to hold a round of the MotoGP World Championship in its 55-year history

· Nicky Hayden has not scored any points since Donington Park in July.



250cc

· Sebastian Porto starts from pole position for the seventh time in 2004. The only GP at which Porto has not started on the front row was the last race at Motegi.

· Dani Pedrosa has finished on the podium ten times from the twelve races in 2004, his debut year in the 250cc class.

· Alex De Angelis has already had nine top six finishes in his first year in the 250cc class.

· Randy De Puniet is the only rider in all three classes to have scored points at each of the first twelve races of 2004.

· Hiroshi Aoyama, who has now scored points in ten consecutive races, scored his first podium of the year at Motegi.


125cc

· For the first time this year there are four different manufactures represented on the front row of the grid.

· Jorge Lorenzo starts from pole for the second time this year and for the third time in his career. Lorenzo has not won from any of his previous pole starts.

· Andrea Dovizioso, who starts from the front row for the eighth consecutive race, has finished in the top four in eleven of the twelve races this year.

· Following his victory at Motegi, if Andrea Dovizioso wins the 125cc race in Qatar he will end a record sequence of thirty-five races without a rider taking back to back victories since Arnaud Vincent won at Donington and then Sachsenring in 2002.

· Steve Jenkner starts from the front row for the first time since his home race in Germany.

· Casey Stoner has not scored any points since he finished second at the Rio Grand Prix in early July.