Lorenzo Heads an All-Yamaha Front Row on Superb MotoGP Debut

Fiat Yamaha Team new recruit Jorge Lorenzo, at 20 the youngest rider on the grid, took an incredible pole position on his MotoGP debut in Qatar tonight. The Spanish rookie is the first rider in ten years to take pole position at his debut premier-class race and heads the first all-Yamaha front row since Sachsenring in 2002.

Following on from an impressive opening night yesterday, Lorenzo continued with more of the same in the first session this evening and finished second. As a result he headed into this evening's Qualifying session as one of the clear favourites for a spot on the front row and, with 20 minutes to go, he slotted in a Michelin qualifying tyre and went straight to the top of the time sheets. It was a night for the rookies as pole position was briefly surrendered to fellow Yamaha new-boy James Toseland, but Lorenzo's final qualifying lap was too good for his competitors and a time of 1'53.927 saw him smash the previous pole record by over a second.

"Only in my dreams did I imagine being on pole at my very first MotoGP race; I can't believe it! This is something great for all of Yamaha; there are three Yamaha riders on the front row and this shows how hard they have been working. Tonight my M1 was working very well and with the Michelin qualifying tyres it was excellent, but also our race pace is very good.

Tomorrow will of course be very difficult; it's my first MotoGP race so there is a lot to think about, but I am excited and of course we will try to do our best and see what happens! The team and Michelin have done a great job over the winter so this is a thank you to them. I will try to get a good start and I will have to concentrate very hard on the first lap when the tyres are cold, and then we'll see what happens. Tomorrow is another day however and for the moment I just want to think about this and celebrate a special night for me and for Yamaha."

"Like Jorge says, tonight is like a dream for us and we couldn't ask for more. We've done a great job with Yamaha and Michelin during the winter and the rider has adapted very well to a MotoGP bike. Also the team have done very well setting up the bike for him so well done and thank you to all of them. Today the Michelin qualifying tyres worked perfectly but we're also consistently fast with race tyres, so it's quite exciting. I want to thank Yamaha for doing a great job in the winter and giving us a very competitive bike, we're in good shape for the first race and now we are just waiting to see what happens tomorrow!"

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow's season-opening MotoGP race from the front of the third row, after qualifying seventh under the Qatar floodlights tonight.

The Italian lacked a little pace with his qualifying tyres this evening but a strong showing on Bridgestone race tyres in tonight's first practice session left him feeling nonetheless relaxed for tomorrow's race. After struggling slightly for grip yesterday the earlier practice session, run in slightly warmer temperatures, saw Rossi making significant improvements to his setting and finishing third fastest. Qualifying was something more of a struggle for the multiple world champion however and he was unable to break into the top positions, but he is confident that a good start and a strong first lap will see him in a position to fight with the protagonists in tomorrow's 22-lap race.

Tomorrow's race, the first ever MotoGP night-race, will start at 2300 local time.

"After the test we knew that we weren't going to be in perfect shape for the qualifying; we tried a few modifications but we weren't able to completely fix the problem and so I couldn't challenge for the front row. This aside however, I'm pleased with the progress we made today and our race pace is much better than yesterday. We're still missing a couple of tenths from the front but we have a few small modifications planned and I think we're in okay shape for the race.

The third row isn't great but we know that the Bridgestone tyres work very well straight away and so if I get a good start then I hope I can challenge at the front. The bike is feeling good, we've found some more grip compared to yesterday and for sure I can say that we're in better shape than last year.

Congratulations to Lorenzo because he was very impressive tonight and this shows that our bike is very good. It's only the first race and I'm quite relaxed; I feel good on the bike, I can ride it exactly how I want to and now we're just waiting for tomorrow."

"I think that we've done a good job today. Valentino and the whole team had a very good reaction to yesterday's problems and we improved our race pace considerably, so we're very happy about that. We knew that our job with the qualifying tyre would be more difficult tonight and all things considered seventh is not so bad. It's a starting point for us and now we will make progress in the future. Congratulations to Lorenzo for his pole position and to Yamaha for filling the front row; it's going to be a very interesting beginning to the championship!"

James Toseland and Colin Edwards produced inspired qualifying performances in Qatar tonight to claim front row places for tomorrow's historic first floodlit MotoGP race. Toseland and Edwards ended a thrilling first qualifying session of 2008 with the second and third fastest times to help Yamaha and Michelin claim a clean sweep of the front row of the grid for tomorrow's 22-lap race.

Toseland was in contention to claim a stunning pole position on his MotoGP debut throughout the session. He first climbed to the top of the timesheets after 19 minutes, when a lap of 1.54.562 moved him 0.1s clear of reigning world champion Casey Stoner. He briefly lost top spot to fellow Yamaha newcomer Jorge Lorenzo, only to seize the advantage back with 20 minutes left on the clock. His best lap of 1.54.182 was just 0.037s clear of Lorenzo, but 0.9s inside of Valentino Rossi's 2007 pole position. Excelling on the extra grip of Michelin's dominant qualifying tyres, Toseland came within two minutes of becoming the first rider to claim a debut MotoGP pole position since Max Biaggi in 1998.

In what was a carbon copy of the finale to last week's IRTA test, Toseland was denied in the closing stages by Lorenzo, who posted a best lap of 1.53.927 to beat the British rider by just 0.255s. American Edwards capped a great night for the Tech 3 team when his best lap of 1.54.499 secured third. He moved into third with 17 minutes remaining with his first Michelin qualifier, and improved his time with both of his last two qualifying tyres.

"I didn't think I'd be in this position tonight. But why not do it again tomorrow? The team has been brilliant to teach me how to ride a MotoGP bike so fast in such a short space of time. It has been awesome. I had seven years of a great life and a great career in World Superbikes and to become champion twice was amazing. Fortunately I made the gamble to come to MotoGP from that comfort zone and I wanted this success.

But I know it can't come without a great team behind you. The Tech 3 team has had a coupe of difficult years, but definitely not because of the team principal and mechanics. They are a great team and to have Colin also on the front row shows what quality we have. I just want to thank Herve Poncharal and all the boys, and also Yamaha. This is my first time working with this manufacturer and they have showed what effort they are putting into MotoGP.

Michelin had a difficult year last season but they have worked really hard through the winter to get this success. I had three qualifying tyres and used one quite early. I didn't know whether the humidity would get to a stage where there was a bit of moisture on he track like we had in the test last week. I wanted to make sure we got a decent lap in. On my fastest lap unfortunately I caught a couple of riders in a difficult part of the track in the last split and did a 54.1.

I knew on a perfect lap there was a 1.53 in there but with one minute to go I could still see my number 52 at the top of the scoreboard. Credit to Jorge though for actually doing that 1.53. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and I will give it out best shot."

"It has been great this winter. We have been working really hard. That's everybody in the Tech 3 team, Yamaha and Michelin. People ask me how I keep motivated for an old guy but when you have people around working hard for you and with you it is easy. We have all worked hard and this is a great start. I couldn't be more pleased for the Tech 3 team and I have to say thanks to Herve Poncharal.

He has got a fantastic team. He struggled through a couple of difficult years and its testament of how good the team is for us to get this result. But we can't get carried away. We are still going to have to ride hard tomorrow. It is no secret we have a little speed deficit on the straight and we can't take any prisoners tomorrow. It will be a hard race and we will have to take a few chances and see what happens. But it will be a great spectacle. I love riding under the lights. It reminds of being a kid out on the motocross track."

Losail: Lap Record C. Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 1'56.528

Losail: Best Lap V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2007, 1'55.002

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time

1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'53.927

2 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 1'54.182

3 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'54.499

4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'54.733

5 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1'54.818

6 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'54.880

7 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'55.133

8 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'55.170

9 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1'55.185

10 John Hopkins Kawasaki USA 1'55.263

11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'55.540

12 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 1'55.692

13 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 1'56.070

14 Toni Elias Ducati ESP 1'56.251

15 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'56.434 

- Yamaha Racing -