MotoGP
• Andrea Dovizioso starts from pole position for the second time this season, the seventh time in the premier class and the 20th on what is the 291st start of his Grand Prix career.
• This is Andrea Dovizioso’s third premier class pole position at the Twin Ring Motegi, along with 2010, riding a Honda, and 2014 riding a Ducati.
• Andrea Dovizioso’s pole position is the seventh for a Ducati rider this season so far, which is one more than Honda. Only once have Ducati had more pole positions in a single season in the premier class, and that was in 2008 when the Borgo Panigale manufacturer accumulated nine.
• This is Ducati’s fourth pole position at Motegi. On their three previous pole positions at this track, Ducati riders have won twice, with Loris Capirossi in both 2005 and 2006.
• Johann Zarco, who was on pole position last year at Motegi, has qualified in second on the grid as the highest-placed rider from an Independent Team. It’s his best qualifying result since he was on pole at the French Grand Prix earlier this season.
• Jack Miller completes the first row on the grid, which is his third front row start both of the year and in the MotoGP™ class.
• Third-placed Independent Team rider and top Honda rider, Cal Crutchlow heads the second row on the grid. This is Crutchlow’s best qualifying result at Motegi since he was the third fastest in 2012.
• Andrea Iannone starts from the middle of the second row, which is the best qualifying result for a Suzuki rider at Motegi since Chris Vermeulen was fourth on the grid back in 2009. This is Iannone’s best qualifying result since he was fifth in Aragón.
• Championship leader Marc Márquez has qualified in sixth on the grid, equalling his worst qualifying result of the year along with Argentina and Italy. Márquez has only won three times after qualifying out of the top 3 (Valencia/2014, Aragón/2017 and Spain/2018).
• Marc Márquez could clinch his fifth MotoGP™ title if he scores points and finishes ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and he doesn’t concede more than two points to the Ducati rider and 24 to Valentino Rossi.
• Second Yamaha rider on the grid, Maverick Viñales heads the third row, which is the ninth time this year he has failed to qualify on the first two rows of the grid.
• Maverick Viñales equals his best qualifying result at Motegi in the MotoGP™ class – taken in 2016 – and on that day he went on to take third and the only podium finish for Suzuki at this track in the MotoGP™ class since its introduction in 2002.
• Álex Rins has qualified in eighth, which is his best qualifying result since he was fifth on the grid at the Dutch TT earlier this year.
• Valentino Rossi completed the third row on the grid, which is the 10th time this year he has failed to qualify on the first two rows of the grid.
• After joining Q2 through Q1 for the second time in 2018, Alvaró Bautista has qualified in 10th on the grid, which is his best qualifying result since Aragón earlier this season.
• Dani Pedrosa, who is the most successful rider at Motegi with five wins across all classes, is 11th on the grid.
• Takaaki Nakagami is the first of the five rookies to have made it to Q2 four times this year so far, with Japan joining Catalunya, Germany and Aragón.
Moto2
• Francesco Bagnaia has qualified on pole position for the sixth time this year. On his five-previous pole positions, he went on to win the race four times. His fourth pole position was at Silverstone, but the race was cancelled.
• Only one rider has won from pole position at the Twin Ring Motegi in the Moto2™ class: Johann Zarco back in 2015.
• Fabio Quartararo has qualified in second on the grid, which is his best qualifying since he was on pole position in Catalunya earlier this year.
• Iker Lecuona is third on the grid as the highest-placed KTM rider, which is his first front row on what is the 34th Grand Prix start of his Grand Prix career.
• With Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo and Iker Lecuona, this is the second front row start with three different chassis manufacturers of the year so far, joining Austria.
• Heading the second row on the grid is Marcel Schrötter, and it’s his best qualifying result since he was second in Aragón earlier this year.
• Lorenzo Baldassarri, who was on pole position in Thailand two weeks ago, starts from the middle of the second row. This is the seventh time this year that Baldassarri has managed to qualify on the first two rows on the grid.
• Álex Márquez, who is the most successful rider on the current Moto2™ grid at Motegi with three wins – two in Moto3™ and one in Moto2™, last year – completes the second row of the grid, which is his worst qualifying result since he was eighth in San Marino earlier this year.
• Second in the Championship, Miguel Oliveira has qualified in ninth on the grid, which is the 11th time this year he has failed to qualify within the top eight on the grid.
Moto3
• Gabriel Rodrigo has qualified on pole position for the third time on what is the 72nd start of his Grand Prix career. This is Rodrigo’s first pole position since Austria last year.
• This is the fourth pole position for KTM in 2018, which is their highest number of pole positions since 2016 when the Austrian manufacturer accumulated 12.
• John McPhee has qualified in second on the grid, equalling his best qualifying result of the year so far, along with Brno.
• Second in the Championship Marco Bezzecchi, who crashed in Thailand two weeks ago, has qualified in third, making it the first back-to-back front row starts of his Grand Prix career.
• With Gabriel Rodrigo, John McPhee and Marco Bezzecchi, Thailand and Motegi are the first back-to-back all-KTM front rows in the Moto3™ class since Japan/Valencia back in 2013. In addition, this is the third all-KTM front row of the season so far.
• Heading the second row on the grid is Championship leader Jorge Martín, and it’s only the third time this year he has failed to start from the front row, along with Thailand and Argentina, and it’s the first time it’s happened in back-to-back races since Austria/Great Britain last year.
• Darryn Binder has qualified in fifth on the grid, which is his best qualifying result on what is the 62nd Grand Prix start of his career.
• Enea Bastianini, who won the second of his three Grand Prix races so far in Japan two years ago, completes the second row. This is Bastianini’s best qualifying result since he was the third-fastest qualifier in Aragón earlier this year.
• Kazuki Masaki has qualified in eighth on the grid as the highest-placed Japanese rider. This is the second successive time Masaki has managed to qualify within the first three rows on the grid.
• Third in the Championship and winner in Thailand, Fabio Di Giannantonio has qualified in 15th on the grid, which is his worst qualifying result since he was 16th in Austria earlier this year.
