Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar – Saturday Guide Saturday 7th April 2006 Casey Stoner is the second youngest rider ever to start from pole in the premier-class, the youngest being Freddie Spencer at the Spanish GP at Jarama in 1982. Stoner is also the first Australian rider to qualify on pole in the premier-class since Gary McCoy at the Portuguese GP at Estoril in 2000. Stoner’s pole position time is the fastest ever lap of the Losail circuit by a motorcycle, almost one and a quarter seconds faster than the previous pole record set last year by Capirossi. The top sixteen riders on the grid have gone faster than the lap record set last year by Nicky Hayden. After winning at Jerez, Loris Capirossi is aiming to become the first rider to take back-to-back victories in the opening two races of the year since Valentino Rossi in 2001. Toni Elias has qualified on the front row for the first time in the MotoGP class. His previous best was sixth – in Turkey last year and two weeks ago in Spain. Nicky Hayden has finished on the podium at the last five successive races. If either Dani Pedrosa (20 years 191 days) or Casey Stoner (20 years 174 days) wins the race they will become the youngest ever winner in the class, taking the record from Freddie Spencer who was 20 years 196 days when he took his debut victory at Spa-Francorchamps in 1982. If Valentino Rossi fails to finish in the top three it will be the first time since 2004 that he has gone two successive races without a podium. Geoff Duke (1951) and Umberto Masetti (1952) are the only riders ever to have won the title without scoring podiums in either of the opening two races. If Valentino Rossi should win he will equal Mick Doohan’s tally of 54 victories. Only Giacomo Agostini (68 wins) has had more success in the class. Sete Gibernau, who won here in 2004, has failed to qualify on the front row of the grid for the first time since Motegi last year. Colin Edwards has finished in the points at every race since he was second at Qatar in 2004, a run of 22 successive point scoring finishes. 250cc Jorge Lorenzo has an impressive record at Qatar having won the 125cc race from pole in 2004 and finishing second last year in the 250cc race, also from pole. Hector Barbera has equalled his best ever grid position from the final race of 2005 at Valencia. Roberto Locatelli is has qualified on the front row of the 250cc grid for the first time since the 2002 Malaysian GP. Alex De Angelis completes the first all-Aprilia front row in the class since the 2004 Czech GP. If Sebastian Porto finishes in the top fifteen he will become the first rider to reach the milestone of 100 point-scoring finishes in the 250cc class. Jakub Smrz celebrated his 23rd birthday by achieving his best ever qualifying result in the 250cc class, his previous best being tenth at the 2003 Grand Prix of Japan. 125cc Alvaro Bautista starts from pole for the first time in his Grand Prix career. His previous best grid position was second – at Jerez in 2004 and again two weeks ago. Following his victory at Jerez, if Alvaro Bautista repeats in Qatar he will end a record sequence of fifty-six races without a rider winning back-to-back 125cc races, since Arnaud Vincent won at Donington and then Sachsenring in 2002. Mattia Pasini starts from the front row for the fourteenth successive Grand Prix. Mika Kallio is the only rider to have finished in the top four at both previous races in Qatar. Sergio Gadea starts from the front row for only the second time in his career. His other front row start came at Valencia last year when he qualified on pole only to crash out of the race. Lukas Pesek is aiming to become the first Czech rider to take a Grand Prix victory since Frantisek Stastny won the 500cc race at the Sachsenring in 1966 riding a Jawa-CZ. Stastny is still the only Czech rider to have won a Grand Prix in any class. Gabor Talmacsi, who is the top Honda qualifier, won the race at Qatar last year when riding for KTM.