Stoner takes Qatar Grand Prix

Stoner takes Qatar Grand Prix
Doha—Australia’s Casey Stoner, riding a Ducati, claimed pole position for Sunday’s floodlit, season-opening Qatar Grand Prix as he targeted a fourth successive win at the desert venue.

Stoner clocked 1min 55.007sec to see off the Yamahas of world champion Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo in Saturday’s session while Randy de Puniet, on a Honda, was fourth fastest.

Rossi set a time of 1:55.362 as he ensured his world title defence will begin from the front row of the grid in Losail.

His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo, who suffered a hand injury in pre-season, put in a strong performance with the Spaniard just over half a second off Stoner?s pace.

“I feel we are a lot better prepared for this season than the last couple of years,” said Stoner.

“We want to try and keep going up. This is the perfect way to start the season. We have been stronger in testing and the bike works really well around this circuit.”

De Puniet heads the second row after a best time of 1:55.831. Loris Capirossi, on a Suzuki, will start a record-breaking 300th Grand Prix from fifth place.

The veteran, with a time of 1:55.899, was ahead of fellow Italian Andrea Dovizioso on a Honda.

Rossi said he was happy with his performance after modifications were made to his bike after Friday’s practice.

“I’m really happy about the work we’ve done on our set-up and now we have a good race pace with the hard Bridgestone tyres,” said the 31 year-old Italian.

“With the soft one the rear is still sliding a little bit too much, but I think for the race we are okay.

“My final flying lap was very fast but then I had to pass a couple of riders in the final sector and I lost some time, but anyway we have a good grid position so I am happy.

“A strong start is going to be very important and we will have to push hard on the first lap to try to stay close to Stoner, who is always very strong here. Honestly I think it will be tough to beat him but we will try our best.”

In the Moto2 category, which has replaced the 250cc for this season, Spaniard’s Toni Elias (Moriwaki) and Julian Simon (RSV) were the fastest with Germany’s Stefan Bradl (Suter) and Alex de Angelis (Force GP210) filling the top four.

In the 125cc, qualifying ended in a Spanish monopoly with Marc Marquez, Pol Espargaro and Nicolas Terol the quickest riders.—AFP