Silverstone MotoGP Octo British Grand Prix Race Day Guide
Statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines
The last time that British riders qualified on pole in both the premier-class and intermediate class at the same grand prix was at the Swedish GP at Anderstorp in 1977, when Barry Sheene was on pole for the 500cc race and Mick Grant for the 250cc race. Both riders went on to win their respective races.
MotoGP
- Cal Crutchlow is the first British rider to qualify on pole in the premier-class at a British Grand Prix since Barry Sheene in 1977 in the 500cc class. Crutchlow will be aiming to become the first ever British rider to win the premier-class at the British Grand Prix since it moved to the mainland from the Isle of Man in 1977.
- Crutchlow is the first Independent Team rider to qualify on pole in the MotoGP class since Aleix Espargaro was on pole at the Dutch TT in 2014 riding the Forward Yamaha.
- Valentino Rossi, last year’s winner at Silverstone, has qualified in second place on the grid. That’s his eighth front row start of the year.
- Maverick Viñales is in third place on the grid, which is his first front row start since the Italian Grand Prix. Viñales will be aiming to be the first Suzuki rider to finish on the podium in a grand prix at Silverstone since Randy Mamola was third in 1983.
- Dani Pedrosa heads the second row, which is his best grid position since he took the final front row place at the Catalan Grand Prix. That was also the last time he stood on the podium. This is the first time in 2016 that Pedrosa has qualified ahead of his team-mate Marc Marquez.
- Marc Marquez is in fifth place on the grid and it’s only the fourth time in 2016 that he has failed to get on the front row. This is the first time that Marquez has failed to qualify on pole at Silverstone when racing in the MotoGP class.
- The highest placed Ducati rider in sixth place on the grid is Eugene Laverty, which is his best ever qualifying result in grand prix racing.
- Scott Redding, who won the Moto2 race at Silverstone in 2013, has qualified at the head of the third row, the same grid position as last year at the British GP when he went on to finish 6th. That was his best MotoGP class result at the time.
- In eighth place on the grid is Andrea Iannone, who has not had a podium finish in his six previous grand prix appearances at Silverstone.
- Three times MotoGP winner at Silverstone, Jorge Lorenzo, has qualified in ninth place on the grid. Lorenzo has had just one podium finish in the last five races.
