Qualifying 1 "Valentino Rossi - Position: 2ndTime: 1'55.362Laps: 25"

World Champion Rossi had struggled a little yesterday but was much happier on his bike today after some set-up changes this morning, finding better rear grip and an improved race pace as a result. Mid-way through the session he moved into the lead for a short while before Stoner bettered his time and edged him back into second. With the hour gone the Italian was up on the clock on his final flying lap but he dropped a few tenths when passing two riders on the fourth sector and had to settle for second, 0.355 off Stoner's time.

After his confidence-inspiring opening day yesterday, Lorenzo took a small step back this evening and found he had less feeling in the rear than previously. He was nonetheless able to put up a spirited fight for grid positions and was happy to qualify third, considering his recently broken hand and lack of testing. The 23-year-old admits that he still has some pain when braking but is more concerned in tweaking his set-up tonight to put him in the best possible shape for tomorrow night's race, which starts at 2300 local time (2200 CET).

"I'm really happy about the work we've done today on our set up and now we have a good race pace with the hard Bridgestone tyres. 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!"

Lap Record: 1'57.305 (Valentino Rossi, 01/01/2006)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'53.927 (Jorge Lorenzo, 09/03/2008)
Last Years Winner: Casey Stoner
2010 MotoGP Qatar - Doha/Losail 10/04/2010
Qualifying 1
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'55.007
2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'55.362
3 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'55.520
4 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1'55.831
5 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 1'55.899
6 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1'55.963
7 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'55.990
8 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'56.005
9 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 1'56.163
10 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 1'56.227
11 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1'56.271
12 Mika Kallio Ducati FIN 1'56.283
13 Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 1'56.450
14 Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP 1'56.652
15 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 1'56.957