MotoGP
After dominating all three practice sessions at Losail Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) clinched the first pole of the 2011 season, the 27th of his career, for the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar with a fine display in qualifying on Saturday evening.
The MotoGP class was presented with warmer temperatures and less wind compared to the two previous days during the hour-long qualifying session. 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 0.205s 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 final place on the front row went to Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) who finished 0.810s behind Stoner. 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. Ben Spies on the second factory Yamaha was fifth, with the top Ducati again Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team) who was sixth fastest, 1.086s 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 eighth place on the grid for his first MotoGP race, despite the awkward injury to his finger. Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso heads up the second row after timing in seventh fastest, whilst Valentino Rossi will start from the third row on his Ducati debut after setting the ninth fastest lap, precisely 1.5s off Stoner’s time. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards completed the top ten in QP, which Álvaro Bautista missed after undergoing surgery on a fractured left femur he suffered in a practice session crash on Friday.
Moto2
In Moto2 Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) converted his practice session pace into pole position for the intermediate category race. A lap of 2’00.168 secured the German rider the first pole of his World Championship career to date.
Reigning 125 World Champion Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) will join the German on the front row after finishing 0.207s behind, with Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) completing the front row as the new three riders per row format comes into effect for the Moto2 and 125 classes.
Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing), Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) and one of the title favourites for 2011 Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) took second-row spots, with Moto2 debutant Bradley Smith (Tech 3), Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2), Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing Moto2) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) all inside the top ten.
125cc
Nico Terol (Bankia Aspar) achieved pole with a late lap in the 125 session, beating Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) to top spot by 0.090s in the dying moments of the 40-minute run with a lap of 2’06.605.
.Efrén Vázquez will occupy the third and final spot on the front row, with 125 returnees Sergio Gadea (PEV-Blusens-SMX Paris Hilton) and Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar) joined by Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) on row two. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) was seventh fastest and was the last rider to achieve a lap time within two seconds of the pole sitter, with Alberto Moncayo (Team Andalucía Banca Cívica), rookie Maverick Viñales (PEV-Blusens-SMX Paris Hilton) and Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) completing the top ten.
The Moto2 and 125 classes both completed their warm up sessions on Saturday evening. The MotoGP class will warm up at 6pm local time on Sunday, with the 125 race scheduled for 7pm, Moto2 at 8.15pm and MotoGP at 10pm.