MotoGP news

Lorenzo storms to pole on debut

Jorge Lorenzo stormed to pole position on his Moto GP debut during night qualifying at Qatar. The Spanish Yamaha rider upstaged reigning champion Casey Stoner and tema mate Valentino Rossi by a wide margin.

James Toseland qualified second, 0.2s off Lorenzo's lead pace of 1m53.927s while Colin Edwards was a further 0.3s adrift in third. All Stoner could manage was fourth and with that he was the lead Bridgestone rider, although 0.8s off the overall pace. 

Randy de Puniet qualified fifth and Nicky Hayden rounded off the top six. Valentino Rossi's hopes of a resurgent season took an early blow as he qualified just seventh, 1.2s off his rookie team mate's overall pace.

Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and John Hopkins rounded off the top ten in an exciting opening qualifying session of the season.

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