Saturday at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon certainly didn’t disappoint, setting us up nicely for another sensational MotoGP™ race day.
Here are 10 things you need to know before battle commences at MotorLand Aragon:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) has qualified on pole position for the fourth time this season and the 69th in his Grand Prix career.
2. This is the first time Lorenzo secured three pole positions in a row since joining Ducati in 2017 and the first time overall since 2012 (Aragon/Japan/Malaysia).
3. This is the first time Ducati riders have qualified on pole position in three successive Grand Prix events since 2008 with Casey Stoner.
4. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has won the last two MotoGP™ races at MotorLand and will be aiming to equal Mike Hailwood in fourth place in the list of riders with the most GP wins with Honda.
5. Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is fifth on the grid, which is his best qualifying result since he was fifth in Barcelona and the best from a Suzuki rider at Aragon since Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was second-fastest qualifier two years ago.
6. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team), who won the MotoGP™ race in 2012 at MotorLand, is sixth on the grid, which is his best qualifying result since he was second in Spain this year.
7. Fourth-placed Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) starts from eighth on the grid, which is his best qualifying result since he was seventh last year at the Dutch GP.
8. After competing in Q1 for the fifth time in 2018, Viñales has qualified in 11th, which the sixth time this year he qualifies outside the Top 10. However, he has been given a 3-place grid penalty.
9. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) is the first of the five rookies this year to have joined Q2 three times in 2018 also progressing in Catalunya and Germany.
10. Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) has qualified in 14th, which is his worst qualifying result since he was 19th last year at the Sachsenring.