Moto3

• Last year’s winner of the 125cc race at Phillip Island, Sandro Cortese starts from pole for the seventh time in 2012. Cortese will be aiming to take back-to-back wins for the first time in his Grand Prix career.

• In second place on the grid is Jonas Folger, who qualified on the front row last year at Phillip Island but did not start the race due to technical problems.

• This is the first time that German riders have taken the top two places on the grid in the lightweight class of Grand Prix racing since the FIM Grand Prix at Jarama in 1993 when Dirk Raudies qualified on pole and Ralf Waldmann was in second place on the grid.

• Efren Vazquez is on the front row for the first time since the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

• Danny Kent, who heads the second row of the grid, finished 22nd at Phillip Island last year after crashing on the second lap when in second place and re-starting at the back of the field.

• In fifth place on the grid is Zulfahmi Khairuddin, making his 50th Grand Prix start.

• Taking the final slot on the second row is Miguel Oliveira, who is racing at the Phillip Island circuit for the first time having missed the last four races of last year after splitting with his team.

• Racing at his home Grand Prix for the first time, Arthur Sissis heads the third row of the grid, which is his best qualifying result so far in his debut season of Grand Prix racing.