Lorenzo flies to Qatar pole

Jorge Lorenzo claimed pole position for the MotoGP season-opening Qatar Grand Prix, denying Casey Stoner a fourth straight Losail pole. It was reigning champion Stoner who led the way for Honda for most of the hour, as he both topped the part of the session devoted to practice, then improved to a 1m55.149s on his first concerted pole shot with 11 minutes left. That was beaten by Lorenzo's 1m54.993s for Yamaha just afterwards, and although four-time Qatar winner Stoner fought back with a 1m54.855s, it put him on top for less than a minute before the Yamaha lapped 0.221 seconds quicker.

Johnny Herbert John James Boy Hayje Patrick Gaillard Beppe Gabbiani Jeffrey Tyler Burton