James Toseland left his new
MotoGP rivals in little doubt as to his grand prix potential by concluding the final pre-season test in a superb second position, just 0.040secs from the top.
After an edgy start to his MotoGP career at Sepang last November, when he fell on only his sixth lap with the YZR-M1, the intensely determined double World Superbike champion has been growing in confidence at each and every outing - and shot dramatically forwards when he reached familiar ground at Phillip Island last month.
A further promising performance followed at the official
Jerez test, before the Englishman set a speedy fifth fastest time on the first day of this week's inaugural Qatar night test.
Even better was to follow on Friday's second and final night, when the #52 made the most of a Michelin qualifying tyre to lead the timesheets for three hours before being denied the top spot - with just seven minutes remaining - by factory Yamaha rider
Jorge Lorenzo.
Toseland and Lorenzo are both MotoGP rookies, and use Michelin tyres, but the Spaniard is running the latest, pneumatic-valve, M1 engine, while satellite Tech 3 rider Toseland is still using the conventional spring-valve design.
But new engine or not, Toseland's Qatar performance means the Englishman can't wait to make his MotoGP debut in next weekend's night time season opener at the Losail circuit.
"I know this track pretty well so it didn't take too long to get into the groove of the place even on this bike. But to do the time I did and finish second is pretty amazing. I don't think I did a 1min 58 on my Superbike, so to think I'm four seconds faster than a Superpole lap is incredible," said Toseland, a former Qatar race winner in WSBK. "And I'm half-a-second under Valentino's pole time and that is really encouraging.
