Facts to know before the races
For the first time ever Bridgestone riders have taken the top three places on the grid.

Loris Capirossi has qualified on pole for the 7th time riding a Ducati and for the 12th time in total in the premier-class. Capirossi`s pole position time is the fastest ever lap of Jerez by a motorcycle.

Ducati riders have taken the top two slots on the grid for only the second time ever in the premier class. The previous occasion was also at Jerez, in 2003, with Capirossi and Troy Bayliss.

Shinya Nakano starts from the front row for the first time since the Malaysian GP in 2004.

Nicky Hayden is the top Honda rider on the grid and also the highest placed Michelin rider.

This is the first time since the Italian GP at Misano in 1993 that Honda has no representative on the front row of a premier-class Grand Prix.

If either Dani Pedrosa (20 years 178 days) or Casey Stoner (20 years 161 days) wins the race they will become the youngest ever winner in the premier-class, taking the record from Freddie Spencer, who was 20 years 196 days when he took his debut victory at the Belgium GP at Spa-Francorchamps in 1982.

If Dani Pedrosa wins the race he will become the first rider ever to win the opening race of the year in the premier-class having won the final 250cc GP of the previous season.

Toni Elias has equalled his best qualifying performance of 2005, which came at the GP of Turkey.

If Valentino Rossi wins the race it will be his 54th victory in the premier-class, placing him equal second in the all-time winners list with Mick Doohan. Only Giacomo Agostini has more premier-class victories with 68.

Rossi is also aiming to win the opening race of the season for the sixth successive year.

250cc:

Jorge Lorenzo starts from pole for the fifth time in the class. If Lorenzo is victorious he will become the third youngest 250cc winner behind Dani Pedrosa and Alan Carter.

Yuki Takahashi will be starting from his best ever grid position and from the front row for the first time outside of Japan.

Hector Barbera will be aiming to score his first podium finish since moving up to the 250cc class at the start of last year.


Shuhei Aoyama has taken the final place on the front row of the grid in his first race in the 250cc class outside of Japan.

Anthony West starts from his best grid position since the South African GP in 2000.

Hiroshi Aoyama`s seventh place on the grid is the best ever qualifying performance by a KTM rider in the 250cc class.

Marco Simoncelli, who has won the 125cc GP at Jerez for the past two years, has qualified in eighth place on his debut on a 250cc machine. This is the best qualifying result for Gilera since Carlos Lavado was seventh on the grid riding a Gilera at the Brazilian GP in 1992.

If Sebastian Porto finished in the top fifteen he will become the first rider to reach the milestone of 100 point scoring finishes in the 250cc class.

125cc:

Mattia Pasini has qualified on pole for the first time in his Grand Prix career, having started on the front row for the final 12 races of 2005.

Pasini`s pole position time is the fastest ever 125cc lap of Jerez, just one thousands of a second faster than the previous best set by Dani Pedrosa 2003.

Bradley Smith
Alvaro Bautista has equalled his best grid position, which came at the same circuit two years ago.

Lukas Pesek has qualified on the front row for the first time. This is also the first front row start for Derbi since Jorge Lorenzo was third on the grid at Valencia in 2004.

Julian Simon will be making his 50th Grand Prix start.

Reigning World Champion Thomas Luthi is in 17th place on the grid, his worst qualifying result since the final race of the 2004 season at Valencia.

If Mika Kallio takes victory he will end a record sequence of fifty-five races without a back-to-back winner in the class, since Arnaud Vincent won at Donington and then Sachsenring in 2002.

Bradley Smith is the highest placed qualifier from the four rookies on the grid.

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