From a press release:

Nelson Piquet, 4th July
STATISTICS 2004
Cinzano Rio Grand Prix
ROUND 7

Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines

SUNDAY GUIDE
MotoGP

· This is the first pole for both Kenny Roberts and Suzuki since the Grand Prix of Valencia in 2000, the year in which Roberts clinched his World Championship at the Rio Grand Prix.

· Kenny Roberts finished on the podium at Rio in 2002, his only podium finish riding the
four-stroke Suzuki and the last time a Suzuki rider has stood on the podium. Roberts also finished on the podium in Rio in 1999 after qualifying on pole.

· Roberts’ pole is only the second ever in the premier-class for a rider using Bridgestone tyres, the other being at the Australian Grand Prix in 2002 when Jeremy McWilliams was on pole riding his Proton KR3.

· Kenny Roberts’ pole position time is the fastest ever lap of the Nelson Piquet circuit
by a motorcycle. The top seventeen riders on the grid have lapped faster than the existing lap record set in 2003 by Valentino Rossi.

· Max Biaggi, who has had three podium finishes in Rio in the premier-class, has qualified in his best grid position since he qualified on pole at the Pacific Grand Prix in Motegi last year.

· Nicky Hayden starts from the front row of the grid for the third time in the last four races.

· Sete Gibernau has failed to qualify on the front row of the grid for the first time since the Malaysian Grand Prix last year.

· Alex Barros has finished in the top five on five occasions at the Rio Grand Prix, including a single podium finish in 2000 when he finished in second place, less than one second behind Rossi.

· Loris Capirossi has qualified in sixth place on the grid, his best grid position so far in 2004.

· Last year at Rio, Makoto Tamada scored his first ever Grand Prix podium and also the first ever podium for Bridgestone tyres in the MotoGP class.

· Valentino Rossi, who has won on each of his four starts in the premier-class in Rio, has qualified in his lowest grid position since he started in eighth place on the grid at the Malaysian GP in 2002.