The Losail International Circuit may not be Casey Stoner’s favourite, but you certainly wouldn’t believe it by looking how the Australian dominated tonight’s qualifying session.
The Marlboro Ducati rider not only took the pole, but also broke his 2009 pole position record by 0.
279s.
Valentino Rossi was second fastest and tried his best to try to catch Stoner in a last lap attempt, but lost all his advantage in the final sector of the track and finished 0.
355s behind the Ducati rider.
On third was the other “alien” Jorge Lorenzo who did a best lap of 1′55.
520 late in the session and 0.
513sec from Stoner.
An excellent performance from Randy De Puniet who put his satellite RC212V into the fourth spot.
Behind the LCR Honda rider in fifth will be the Loris Capirossi who wants to celebrate his 300th GP with a good placement.
Andrea Dovizioso will take off in sixth in front of team mate Dani Pedrosa in seventh and who we expect will have a lightning start in tomorrow’s race.
Colin Edwards was eighth and fellow American Nicky Hayden took the ninth, but was over a second behind his team mate while Hiroshi Aoyama snuck in a surprise claiming the tenth spot.
Ben Spies, who promised us after FP1 that he would be a second faster on fresh hard tires could only manage an eleventh place on soft tires.
Literally falling behind were AlvaroBautista who crashed out in a dying minutes of the session, while Marco Simoncelli and Mika Kallio did their falls in the opening ten minutes.
Starting in last place, reminiscent of his year in Ducati, will be Marco Melandri on the Gresini Honda.
Qatar Qualifying Results:01- Casey Stoner – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – 1′55.
00702- Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
35503- Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
51304- Randy De Puniet – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 0.
82405- Loris Capirossi – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 0.
89206- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
95607- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
98308- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
99809- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.
15610- Hiroshi Aoyama – Interwetten Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 1.
22011- Ben Spies – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
26412- Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.
27613- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 1.
44314- Aleix Espargaro – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.
64515- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.
95016- Hector Barbera – Paginas Amarillas Aspar – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 2.
12317- Marco Melandri – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 2.
318