Stoner on Qatar MotoGP pole

From motogp.com

After dominating all of the practice sessions, Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) clinched the first pole of the 2011 season at the Losail International Circuit on Saturday, making it his 27th pole of his career.

Of the seven MotoGP races held in Qatar, only one has been won from pole position and it was the Australian on a Ducati back in 2009. This is only the second pole position in Doha for Honda in MotoGP, the previous one being Stoner again, back in 2006.

The MotoGP class were presented with higher temperatures in Qatar with less wind compared to earlier in the week in the hour long qualifying session.

"We can't ask for a much better weekend, everything has gone well," Stoner said. "The team have made all the right steps and gradually improved the bike, as the weekend progressed. Tonight I was able to achieve good, consistent lap times again on the hard tire and this is important for the race tomorrow."

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was the only man who could compete with Stoner’s brilliance and took provisional pole off him during the session, but ended up 0. 205 behind when Stoner blitzed his lap time with a pole position lap of 1:54.137. Pedrosa will now make his first ever front row start at the Losail International Circuit.

”The weekend has been very good for us so far," Pedrosa said. "I've been running at the top in every session and I'm very happy to be on the front row in Losail for the first time. Nevertheless, we have to focus on the race. Casey is running very fast, also Lorenzo is improving very quickly, so we have to focus, making no mistakes tomorrow."

The final place on the front row went to Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) who finished 0.810 behind Stoner. The riders on the front row were the only ones able to achieve a lap time in the 1:54s.

The Spaniard also has the satisfaction of getting the better of his team-mate, Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing), who finished qualifying in fifth place.

"There were some really impressive lap times out there tonight in the session," Lorenzo said. "We are still quite far behind the front, but our goal is to finish on the podium and that is in my mind for tomorrow. My race pace is pretty good; I think I can keep running 1:55.7s or maybe 1:55.8s. We will finalize our set up in warm up and try to achieve that tomorrow.”

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) was the surprise of the session with a great lap to finish fourth fastest, just four hundredths slower than the current MotoGP World Champion.

The top Ducati was yet again Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team), who was sixth fastest, 1.086 off the time set by Stoner.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 again produced a good showing with the sole British representative Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech) managing a stunning eighth place on the grid in his first MotoGP race, despite the awkward injury to his finger. His team-mate Colin Edwards was in 10th position.

It was a disappointing showing for Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) compared to his team-mates and after his form in the previous practice sessions. The Italian, not known for strong qualifying compared to race results, could only manage seventh with a deficit of 1.092 off the leading Repsol Honda.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team), still struggling with the shoulder injury in his debut race weekend for Ducati Team was ninth quickest, while his American team-mate Nicky Hayden was down in 13th.

There will be just 16 riders on the grid for Sunday’s race after the accident for Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki), as there will be no replacement rider.

Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) set the first pole position of the 2011 Moto2 season in the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.

Bradl brought his excellent practice form into qualifying and set the fastest lap time of 2:00.168 and in turn secured his first ever pole position.

Reigning 125cc World Champion Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) will join the German on the front row after finishing 0.207 seconds behind. Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) will join them on the front row.

Nicolas Terol (Bankia Aspar) took pole position for the opening round of the 2011 125cc World Championship, after leading every practice session of the weekend.

Terol snatched the fastest time of 2:06.605 after a battle with German rider Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany), who ended up second with a margin of just 0.090 separating the two.

The new format for 2011 means three riders per row on the grid instead of four, so the front row is completed by Efrén Vázquez (Ajo Motorsport) who finished 1.046 behind the Bankia Aspar rider.

MotoGP Qualifying Results
1. Casey STONER (AUS) Repsol Honda 1:54.137
2. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 1:54.342
3. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1:54.947
4. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:54.988
5. Ben SPIES (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1:55.095
6. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 1:55.223
7. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda 1:55.229
8. Cal CRUTCHLOW (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:55.578
9. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Ducati Team 1:55.637
10. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:55.647
11. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1:55.656
12. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:55.724
13. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Team 1:55.881
14. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1:56.323
15. Karel ABRAHAM (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 1:56.665
16. Toni ELIAS (SPA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1:57.992