• Andrea Iannone is on pole for just the second time in the MotoGP™ class – his other was at Mugello last year. Iannone is the first Italian rider to qualify on pole for a premier-class grand prix in Austria since Giacomo Agostini back in 1975 at the Salzburgring.
• In second place on the grid is Valentino Rossi – his seventh front row start of 2016. This is already the highest number of front row starts in a single season for Rossi since 2009. Rossi will be aiming to add to the 29 different circuits where he has already won in GP racing, including 23 in the premier-class
• Andrea Dovizioso, who is making his 250th grand prix start, has qualified on the front row for just the second time in 2016.
• This is the first time that both factory Ducati riders have qualified together on the front row since the Italian Grand Prix last year.
• This is the first all Italian front row in the MotoGP™ class since the Japanese Grand Prix in 2006, when Loris Capirossi was on pole from Valentino Rossi and Marco Melandri; the race ended with the three riders in the order they lined up on the grid.
• Heading the second row of the grid is Jorge Lorenzo, who will be aiming to return to the podium for the first time since the Italian Grand Prix back in May.
• Marc Marquez is in fifth place on the grid – his worst qualifying performance since the Italian Grand Prix last year. Marquez has won on the last two occasions that MotoGP™ has visited a new circuit; Argentina in 2014 and Austin in 2013. Marquez has only won once in the MotoGP class after failing to get on the front row; at the final race of 2014 in Valencia when he was in fifth place on the grid.
• Maverick Viñales starts from the final place on the second row – the seventh time this year he has qualified in the top six places on the grid.
• The best qualifier of the Independent Team riders is Cal Crutchlow in seventh place on the grid.
• In eighth place on the grid is Scott Redding, who has finished in the top four places at the last two races.
• In 11th place on the grid is Eugene Laverty – his best ever qualifying result in grand prix racing.