2021 World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) will be aiming to kickstart his title defence when the Frenchman starts on pole position at the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia. To get yourself set for race day in Mandalika, here’s 10 stats to get stuck into:
1. Quartararo has qualified on pole position for the first time since Catalunya last year, ending his longest sequence of successive races without a single pole position since he stepped up in MotoGP™ in 2019.
2. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) has qualified second for his third successive front row start since Valencia last year. This is his sixth front row in MotoGP™ so far, and the first that isn’t a pole position.
3. Martin’s teammate Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) has qualified third for his first front-row start since he was on pole position in Germany last year. He will be aiming to stand on the podium for the first time since Catalunya last year.
4. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) has qualified fourth as the highest-placed KTM rider for his best qualifying result in MotoGP™, as well as the best qualifying result for KTM since Catalunya last year when it was Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) also in fourth.
5. After passing through Q1, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) has qualified sixth as the highest-placed factory Ducati rider. This is the second successive time he has failed to qualify on the front row.
6. Ducati riders will be aiming to take a fourth successive win for the first time in the class.
7. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who had a mechanical issue in FP4, has qualified eighth as the top Suzuki and will be aiming to stand on the podium for the first time since he was second last year at Silverstone.
8. After passing through Q1, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) became the first of the five rookies this year to join Q2. He qualified 11th for his best qualifying result in what is his second MotoGP™ race.
9. In Q1 for the seventh time since he came back from injury in Portugal last year, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) failed to join Q2 for the fifth time in MotoGP™ along with Italy (2015), Spain (2021), Catalunya (2021) and the Netherlands (2021). He starts from 14th, equalling his second-worst starting position in the class from Spain last year and after Assen, also last year, when he was 20th.
10. With Marc Marquez in 14th as the highest-placed Honda rider, this is the worst grid position for the top Honda since the 2020 San Marino GP, when Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) was 14th.
- www.motogp.com
