MOTOGP FAST FACTS

• Casey Stoner starts from pole for the third time this year. Stoner will be aiming to win his home Grand Prix for the fourth successive year. This is Stoner’s 25th pole across all classes, achieved on his 25th birthday.

• New world champion Jorge Lorenzo will start from second place on the grid, which is the fifteenth time this year he has been on the front row. This will be Lorenzo’s 50th start in the MotoGP class.

• Ben Spies returns to the front row for the first time since he qualified on pole at the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

• Heading up the second row of the grid as the fastest Honda rider in qualifying is Marco Simoncelli, who starts from his best grid position since moving up to the MotoGP class for 2010. Simoncelli has won the 250cc race at Phillip Island for the last two years.

• Fifth fastest qualifier is Colin Edwards, who has equalled his best grid position of this year that he also had at Motegi and Mugello.

• Sixth on the grid, Nicky Hayden still holds the lap record at Phillip Island; set on the way to finishing third in 2008.

• Heading the third row of the grid is Randy de Puniet, who will be aiming to improve on his previous best MotoGP result at Phillip Island: sixth place in 2007 riding a Kawasaki.

• Valentino Rossi is the eighth fastest qualifier, which is his worst grid position since he was tenth on the grid at the Valencia Grand Prix in 2008. Following his win at Sepang, Rossi will be aiming for back-to-back wins for the first time since the Catalan GP and Dutch TT last year.

• If any of the four Yamaha riders win the race, it will be the first win for Yamaha at Phillip Island during the 800cc era of MotoGP.

• Andrea Dovizioso is ninth on the grid, which equals his lowest qualifying position of the year, which he had at the Spanish GP