Sensational Stoner grabs Qatar pole!

20-year-old MotoGP rookie Casey Stoner has taken his first pole position at only his second attempt, after leading a front row separated by just 0.052secs during qualifying for Saturday's Qatar Grand Prix.

The three free practice sessions prior to qualifying had been led by Stoner, Kenny Roberts Jr and Stoner respectively - indicating that the young Aussie could pull off an upset, despite missing the last three pre-season tests due to a shoulder operation and only arriving in Qatar on Thursday morning after a delayed flight.

Into the qualifying hour and Jerez winner Loris Capirossi put Ducati and Bridgestone fastest for much of the first half of the session - with only a brief interruption from Stoner - to lead Edwards, Stoner, Gibernau, Hayden, Elias, Rossi and Pedrosa by the midway point. However, Capirossi's record breaking 1min 56.187secs best came from an early qualifying tyre - and team-mate Gibernau soon took second - before the Michelin teams joined them on super-soft rubber with 20-minutes to go.

Stoner, whose sixth at Jerez was overshadowed by fellow rookie Dani Pedrosa's second place, used his first qualifying run to get within 0.194secs of Capirossi - good enough for third - while Capirossi trimmed a further 0.08secs from his provisional pole time. However, the Ducati Marlboro one-two was finally shattered with 8-minutes remaining when Stoner returned to deliver a stunning 1min 55.683secs circulation - 0.419secs faster than Loris!

Capirossi was then pushed to the outside of the front row by another young Honda rider, Toni Elias, but the #65 responded by bouncing back to second and just 0.038secs from Stoner. But he could get no closer and Stoner's amazing effort ultimately gave the 2005 250cc Qatar winner his and Honda LCR's first MotoGP pole position - while Elias held on to claim his own first front row start after lapping just 0.052secs slower than Casey!

Behind the top three, Nicky Hayden put in a determined last lap effort to head row two - a mere 0.1secs from pole - while team-mate Pedrosa was fifth and world champion Valentino Rossi sixth. Rossi and Camel Yamaha team-mate Edwards had been an impressive third and second respectively at the end of free practice, but - in a sign that the M1's chatter problems remain an issue - couldn't replicate that pace on super soft rubber. As a general rule, more grip means more chatter, hence a possible reason why Rossi was sixth (+0.393secs from pole) and Edwards eighth this afternoon. Expect them to be stronger in the race.

Starting ahead of Edwards on row three will be Gibernau - the next best Bridgestone rider after his second placed team-mate - while Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano and Kenny Roberts completed a top ten covered by just 0.589secs. Roberts and his brand new KR211V are yet to extract the full benefits of qualifying tyres.

Chris Vermeulen, who replaced Roberts at Team Suzuki, was the top GSV-R rider in 11th while Marco Melandri was a disastrous 12th - and some 0.4secs from Vermeulen. Tech 3's Carlos Checa was the lead Dunlop rider in 14th.

Full times to follow...

Qualifying:

1. Stoner
2. Capirossi
3. Elias
4. Hayden
5. Pedrosa
6. Rossi
7. Gibernau
8. Edwards
9. Nakano
10. Roberts
11. Vermeulen
12. Melandri
13. Hopkins
14. Checa
15. de Puniet
16. Tamada
17. Ellison
18. Hofmann
19. Cardoso