So that’s the first MotoGP™ Saturday of 2020 done and dusted. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) picked up his seventh premier class pole position, but what else happened? Get yourself set for Sunday’s race with 10 facts from qualifying.
1. Quartararo has qualified on pole position for the second successive time in MotoGP™ at Jerez, setting a new all-time lap record at the track.
2. With his seventh pole position, Quartararo moves above Christian Sarron as the French rider with the most pole positions in the premier class of Grand Prix racing.
3. This is the fourth successive pole position of a Yamaha rider in MotoGP™, which is the longest sequence of pole positions for Yamaha since 2010 (five times in a row from Silverstone to Laguna Seca with Jorge Lorenzo).
4. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) will be aiming to reach the milestone of 2000 points scored in Grand Prix racing and become the 16th rider to do so. He has 1985.
5. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has always stood on the podium at Jerez, including three wins (two over the last two years). He will be aiming to stand on the podium for the 17th successive time to equal Mick Doohan (Australia/1994 - Japan/1995).
6. Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) has qualified in fourth place as the highest-placed Ducati rider, which is his best qualifying result in MotoGP™. He will be aiming to stand on the podium for the first time in the class and to become the first Ducati rider to do so since Jorge Lorenzo, third back in 2017.
7. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) has qualified in fifth place, this is his best qualifying result in Jerez in the class.
8. After passing through Q1, Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) has qualified in seventh as the highest-placed KTM rider, which the best qualifying result the Austrian manufacturer in Jerez.
9. The most successful rider in the premier class at Jerez with seven wins, Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) has qualified in 11th (but starts from 10th as Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins is declared unfit following a crash in Q2). This is the second successive time he failed to qualify within the top 10 at the track.
10. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) has qualified in 12th place for the second successive time at Jerez but starts from 11th; last year he crashed out of the race at the Spanish GP.