Facts and statistics for race day at the 2020 Qatar MotoGP

Moto2

Joe Roberts has qualified on pole position for the first time in his GP career and become the first American on pole in Grand Prix racing since Ben Spies did it in MotoGP™ at Indianapolis in 2010.

Roberts’ pole is also the first in the intermediate class for an American since Kenny Noyes at the 2010 French GP, and therefore he’s also the second rider from the USA to qualify on pole position in Moto2. He will be aiming to become the first US rider to win in the intermediate category since John Kocinski in Australia/1990.

The last US rider to qualify on pole position at the opening race of the year in the intermediatecategory was also John Kocinski in Japan/1990.

Luca Marini has qualified in second, which is his best qualifying result since he was on pole in Japan last year, when he won his most recent race to date. He will be aiming to become the fourth successive Italian rider to win the opening race of the season in Moto2 after Franco Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia and Lorenzo Baldassarri.
Marini finished sixth in Qatar in 2017, which is his best result so far at the track.

Enea Bastianini has qualified in third, which is his first front row start in Moto2 . He finished ninth last year in Qatar and was top rookie.

After passing through Q1, Jorge Navarro qualified in fourth as the highest-placed non-Kalex rider. On seven of his last 10 front two rows starts, he went on to finish on the podium but is still aiming for his maiden win in Moto2.

Bo Bendsneyder has qualified in fifth, which is his best Moto2 qualifying. This is also the best qualifying result for NTS in the class.

Remy Gardner has qualified in sixth, which is his best qualifying result since he was fifth in Thailand last year. Last year in Qatar, he finished fourth, which was his best result at that time.
He is aiming to become the first Australian to win in Moto2 since Anthony West in Assen/2014.

Last year’s winner in Qatar, Lorenzo Baldassarri has qualified in ninth after passing through Q1. This is his best qualifying result since he was third in Thailand last year.

2019 Moto3 runner-up Aron Canet is the first rookie on the grid in 16th. Canet was on pole in Moto3 last year at Losail and finished third.

Moto3

After passing through Q1, Tatsuki Suzuki has qualified on pole position for the second time along with San Marino last year, when he went to win his only Moto3 race so far (also through Q1). He is the first Japanese rider to qualify on pole at the opening race of the year since Youichi Ui (Japan/2003).

Suzuki’s pole position at Losail is the fifth for a Honda rider at the track since the introduction of the Moto3 in 2012, one more than KTM.

The last rider to win at Losail in Moto3 after qualifying on pole position: Alexis Masbou (2015, Honda).

Highest-placed KTM rider in qualifying: Raul Fernandez in second, equalling his best qualifying result from Austin last year. This is Fernandez’ third front row start of his GP career.

Fernandez will be aiming to win his first GP race and to become the first KTM rider to do so at Losail since Jack Miller in 2014. If a KTM wins the Moto3 race, it will be their 100th Grand Prix victory.

Albert Arenas has qualified third, which is his fourth front row start, all thirds. On his last three front row starts, he went on to finish on the podium twice: third in Australia and a win in Thailand, both last year.

Darryn Binder has qualified in fourth, which is his best qualifying result since he was second in Australia in 2018. Binder has scored points only once on his five visits in Moto3 at Losail: 13th in 2017. He crashed out of the race in the last two years.

Ai Ogura has qualified fifth, which is his best qualifying result since he was second in Aragon last year when he went to finish second, his only podium finish so far. Last year, he finished 11th at Losail.

Jaume Masia, who crashed out last year, has qualified sixth place on what will be his first race with Honda. Masia’s best result in Qatar is 12th in 2018 (which was his first visit to the track).

With Niccolo Antonelli missing the Qatar GP due to injury (replaced by Jose Garcia), Kaito Toba, who qualified 12th, is now the only rider on the grid who has already won a GP race in Qatar: last year he did it from third on the grid and became the first Japanese rider to win in Moto3.