It was a brilliant Saturday at the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar as Prima Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin dominated Qualifying and the Sprint in a thrilling battle with Marc Marquez returning to battle with Gresini Racing MotoGP™. Heading into Sunday a lot of questions remain with records that can still be broken. It is set to an incredible race, so have a look at 10 things you should know before the lights go out.
1- Jorge Martin has qualified on pole for the 14th time in MotoGP™, setting a new all-time lap record. On his four previous poles, he went on to win the GP race three times: San Marino, Japan and Thailand last year, the latter his most recent win. He won the opening Sprint for his 10th Sprint win and will now aim to take his sixth MotoGP GP win.
2- Aleix Espargaro will aim to give Aprilia their first premier class podium in Qatar.
3- Bastianini, who took his maiden MotoGP™ win here in 2022, has qualified third for his best qualifying since he also qualified third in Sepang last year on his way to taking the GP win, also his most recent. He finished P6 in the Sprint, and he will now aim to take his sixth win in the class.
4- From the front row, both Martin (on pole) and Bastianini (P3) are aiming to take their sixth MotoGP™ GP win.
5 - 10/10? - This is the 61st successive GP with a Ducati in the top three in qualifying. Ducati will be aiming to take their 10th win in 10 successive MotoGP™ races.
6- Brad Binder finished second in the Sprint (as in the final Sprint last year in Valencia) and will now be aiming to take his first MotoGP™ win since Austria in 2021. This would be KTM’s first premier-class win in Qatar.
7- Reigning MotoGP™ World Champion Bagnaia qualified fifth for his worst qualifying since Thailand last year (P6). He finished P4 in the Sprint and will now be aiming to become the first reigning Champion to win both the final MotoGP race of the previous season and the opening race of the following season since MotoGP Legend Jorge Lorenzo did it from 2015-2016.
8- 868 days: Marquez has qualified sixth, which is his best qualifying result since he also qualified sixth in India last year. He finished P5 in the Sprint, and he will be aiming to win for the first time since Emilia-Romagna 2021.
9- Di Giannantonio, who took his maiden MotoGP™ win here last year, qualified seventh as the fifth-placed Ducati rider. He crashed out in the Sprint, but will now be aiming to take his third MotoGP™ podium or second win.
10- Rookie Acosta has qualified eighth, which is the best qualifying result for a rookie on his MotoGP™ debut since Fabio Quartararo, who qualified fifth in 2019 (but stalled on the grid and started from pitlane). Aged 19 years and 290 days old, he will be aiming to become the youngest rider to win in the premier class, taking the record from Marc Marquez (20 years and 63 days old in Austin in 2013). He has until Sachsenring to beat that record.
Will we see Marquez return on the top step of the podium, tune in on Sunday at 20:00 local time (UTC +3) to find out!