Gran Premio bwin.com de España Sunday 25th March Sunday Guide motogp “¢ The last six MotoGP races have been won by six different riders: Rossi, Melandri, Capirossi, Elias, Bayliss and Stoner. “¢ If a Ducati rider wins the race it will be the first time that a non-Japanese manufacturer will have won three successive races in the premier-class since MV-Agusta back in 1973/74. “¢ This is the closest top ten qualifying result ever in the premier-class, with Kenny Roberts in tenth place on the grid just 0.325 seconds slower than Dani Pedrosa on pole. “¢ The top sixteen riders on the grid have lapped faster than the lap record set in the 2005 race by Valentino Rossi. “¢ Dani Pedrosa, who finished second here last year on his debut ride in the MotoGP class, will be starting from pole for the fifth time in the premier-class. His two victories in 2006 both came after he had qualified on pole. “¢ The last time that a Spanish rider started on pole in the premier-class at Jerez was 1999 when Alex Criville was on pole and went on to win the race. “¢ Valentino Rossi has gone five races without a victory; the longest sequence of races for Rossi without a win since he took his first premier-class victory at Donington in 2000. “¢ Carlos Checa has qualified on the front row for the first time since the Portuguese GP in 2005. “¢ Colin Edwards’ best result at Jerez was a seventh place finish in 2004. “¢ A win for Casey Stoner would make him the second youngest rider ever to take back-to-back victories in the premier class after Freddie Spencer. “¢ If John Hopkins, Chris Vermeulen or Kousuke Akiyoshi finish in the top three it will be the first podium appearance at Jerez for a Suzuki rider since Roberts’ victory in 2000. “¢ Loris Capirossi is starting his 250th Grand Prix race across the three different classes. 250cc “¢ Jorge Lorenzo starts from pole for the second successive year at Jerez. Last year he went on to take his debut GP victory and if he repeats that this year he will become the first Spanish rider in the 250cc class to win his home race in successive years. “¢ Hector Barbera has finished fifth in both his previous appearances at Jerez in the 250cc class. “¢ Julian Simon has qualified on the front row in only his second start on a 250cc machine. “¢ For the first time ever in the 250cc GP class the top three places on the grid are filled by Spanish riders. “¢ Andrea Dovizioso finished third last year at Jerez after qualifying down in eleventh place on the grid. “¢ Alex de Angelis has qualified in his lowest grid position since moving to the 250cc class at the start of 2004. “¢ If Alvaro Bautista wins the race he will be the first Spanish rider to have won a Grand Prix in both the 125cc and 250cc classes at Jerez. “¢ Jerez is the only circuit at which Marco Simoncelli has had a GP victory, having won the 125cc race in both 2004 and 2005. “¢ If Thomas Luthi finishes in the top three in the race he will be the first Swiss rider to have a podium in the 250cc class since Jacques Cornu finished third at the Czech GP in 1989. 125cc “¢ With pole, Mattia Pasini repeats his qualifying performance from 2006 at Jerez when he started from pole for the first time in his GP career. Pasini has not been on pole since the French GP last year. “¢ Gabor Talmacsi’s best result at Jerez was a fifth place finish in 2005 when riding for KTM. “¢ Last year at Jerez, Lukas Pesek became the first ever Czech rider to finish on the podium in the 125cc class. “¢ Sergio Gadea’s seventh place finish last year was the first time he had scored points at the Spanish GP. “¢ If Hector Faubel wins the race he will become the fourth Spanish rider to have won three or more successive races in the 125cc GP class, joining Angel Nieto, Jorge Martinez and Alvaro Bautista. “¢ Tomoyoshi Koyama has qualified in his best grid position since he was 6th on the grid at the Australian GP in 2005. “¢ Bradley Smith is the top Honda qualifier in the 125cc class, in eleventh place on the grid.