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MotoGP Austin: Sunday pre-race stats and facts

MotoGP

Marc Marquez starts from pole for the fifth successive year at the Grand Prix of the Americas and is aiming to take his fifth successive win at this circuit, which would be his 9th successive win in the MotoGP class in the USA. Marquez has not won in the last five races, since he clinched the 2016 world title with a victory in Japan; if he does not stand on the top step of the podium in Austin it will equal his longest sequence of races without a victory since he moved up to the MotoGP class.

In second place on the grid is Maverick Viñales who could become just the second ever Yamaha rider to win the opening three premier-class GP races of the year, joining Kenny Roberts from 1980.

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Valentino Rossi starts from the front row for the first time this year and will be aiming for a first win in the USA since Indianapolis in 2008.

Dani Pedrosa heads the second row of the grid, his best qualifying result since the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last year. Pedrosa finished second to his team-mate Marquez at Austin in both 2013 and 2014.

Johann Zarco starts from the middle of the second row making it three Yamaha riders in the top five places on the grid for the first time since the British GP two years ago. Zarco is both the highest placed Independent Team rider and top rookie on the grid.

The top Ducati rider in qualifying for the first time this year is Jorge Lorenzo in sixth place on the grid.

Heading the third row is Andrea Dovizioso who has been the first Ducati across the line three times in the four visits to Austin for MotoGP.

Jonas Folger starts from the middle of the second row, making it four Yamaha riders in the top eight places on the grid.

In ninth place on the grid is Cal Crutchlow who will be aiming to finish on the podium for the first time in the USA.

Scott Redding, who starts from 10th place on the grid, was the top Independent Team rider across the line last year in Austin in sixth place, which was his best dry weather result of 2016.

Jack Miller is in 12th place on the grid – his best result in a fully dry qualifying session.

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Moto2

Franco Morbidelli has qualified on pole position for the second time in his grand prix career. He is the second Italian rider to start from pole position more than once in Moto2 with Andrea Iannone. He will be aiming to become the first rider to win the three opening races of the season in the intermediate category since Daijiro Kato in 2001.

Mattia Pasini will start from second on the grid, equalling his best qualifying result in Moto2 in Australia last year, which was his only front row start at that time. He will be aiming to win his first Moto2 race. His best result in Austin is a seventh place back in 2013.

Alex Márquez will start from the front row for the third time of this season. He finished eleventh from 21st on the grid last year in Austin, his best result at this track in every class.

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Heading the second row is Takaaki Nakagami. This equals his best qualifying result this season so far. He has not finished higher than tenth in the Moto2™ race in Texas.

Tom Lüthi is fifth on the grid, his worst dry-weather qualifying result since he was seventh in Aragón last year.

Dominique Aegerter is in sixth place. He is the only rider currently competing in Moto2 who has stood on the podium in the class at Austin since its introduction to the calendar in 2013 – third in 2014. He also equals the best qualifying result for Suter in 2016, with his teammate Danny Kent in Qatar this year.

Ricky Cardus, who stands-in for Brad Binder this weekend, is tenth on the grid, his best qualifying result since he was seventh at Misano in 2014.

Moto3

Arón Canet qualified on pole position for the second time of his grand prix career; his other was at Valencia last year. He will be aiming to win his first Moto3 grand prix race.

This is the first time since Aragón last year there are only Honda riders on the front row.

Joan Mir will start from second on the grid. Mir will be aiming to become the first rider to win the first three lightweight races since Nico Terol in 2011 and the first Spaniard to win three races in a row since Luis Salom in 2013. Last year, he crashed in Austin from 27th on the grid.

Romano Fenati qualified in third on the grid, his ninth front row start of his 81 GP starts. Fenati is the only rider currently competing in the Moto3™ class who has had podium finishes in the previous four years that the grand prix event has been held in Austin, with a second place finish in 2014 and a victory last year.

Fenati is on his way to become the rider with the highest Moto3 World Championship points total, currently standing third with 674 points behind Brad Binder (677) and Álex Rins (689).

Heading the second row is Nicolò Bulega who will also be aiming to win his first Moto3 grand prix race. He finished tenth from eleventh on the grid last season in Texas.

Jorge Martín is in fifth place on the grid, which is his worst starting position since qualifying 12th in Valencia last year. He crashed during the race on his two previous visits to Austin.

Enea Bastianini will start from seventh on the grid, the best qualifying result for the reigning runner up so far in 2017.

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