Casey Stoner will start the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar in pole position, in an attempt to his fourth consecutive win in the race.

Stoner said: “You never know what’s going to happen on Sunday, so we’re not playing our chances down, we’re just being realistic. We’ve been let down in the past a few times when things have looked good – it’s one thing to start the season strong but you have to finish it strong. We’re going to try and stay a bit more focused this year, and pole position is definitely the best way to start off the season.”

Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) was second quickest with a time of 1’55.362 ahead of  team-mate Jorge Lorenzo . Heading up the second row is Randy de Puniet  with a best time of 1’55.831,

Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) will start his record-breaking 300th Grand Prix from fifth place with Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) in sixth.  Dani Pedrosa set a time of 1’55.990 to start from Grid secen.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro) start from eighth and ninth with Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP)rounding out the top ten as the  fastest rookie on the grid.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech3) finished 11th, and there were crashes for Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) – 12th – and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) – 15th – inside the opening 10 minutes of the session. Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) had a fall late on, but only after he had set his best time which will see him start his first MotoGP race from 13th