Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) didn’t just win his second race for Ducati at the Catalan GP, or take his 150th podium – the number 99 also repeated a feat he first accomplished in 2010: winning at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from pole. It’s rarer than you might think! Since the track joined the calendar, only four men have done it – and only two have done it twice. The first single winner was Luca Cadalora, in 1994, and the second was Mick Doohan, who wrote his name into the Catalan GP statistics archive in 1997.

Lorenzo, Italian, MotoGP 2018

So who did it twice? The first was Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP). The ‘Doctor’ won from pole in 2001 on a Honda, and then did it again in 2006 – this time on a Yamaha. Lorenzo has equally won from pole at the track on two bikes; with Yamaha in 2010 and now with Ducati in 2018.

This season, at any track, winning from pole is even rarer. In Qatar, winner Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) won from fifth on the grid, and in Argentina Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) took victory from TENTH. Polesitter Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) just missed out on the podium despite his Saturday heroics.

Miller, Catalunya MotoGP 2018

Texas was a slightly different story. Winner Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) qualified on pole, but due to a penatly, that’s not where he started. Then, in Jerez, it was Argentina winner Crutchlow on pole – but Marquez taking the win.

France again saw disappointment for the polesitter as Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha MotoGP) crashed out, and Mugello didn’t go to plan for the home hero either after Rossi started from the front but Lorenzo took the win. Meaning that, so far, the Majorcan is the only man to win from pole this season – and the first since Marquez at Phillip Island last year.

Marquez, Phillip Island MotoGP, February 2017

Will the pattern continue at Assen?

By MotoGP