MotoGP: Stoner Scorches the Desert at Qatar Qualifying

Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa put on a show for us tonight during the first Qualifying Practice of the 2011 MotoGP season being held at the Losail International Circuit. Cheers and groans could be heard in the media center as reporters from Spain, Italy, and other countries watched the session unfold…we’ll let you guess as to how each of those groups specifically reacted to the result. Throughout the MotoGP testing sessions and practices leading up to the Qatar GP, the Repsol Hondas, especially those of Stoner and Pedrosa, have been on an entirely different quantification of reality from the rest of the paddock.

For instance, fellow front row starter and 2010 MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo was eight tenths of second back from Stoner’s time. Disappointingly for Valentino Rossi fans, the Italian will grid tomorrow in the 9th spot, a full second and half back from Stoner. Teammate Nicky Hayden fared the worst out of the factory riders, 13th on the grid for Sunday’s race and a 1.75 seconds from the pole time. Rizla Suzuki did not field a bike for qualifying because of Alvaro Bautista’s injury, and will not participate in tomorrow night’s race.

Qualifying Results from the Qatar GP at the Losail International Circuit:

Pos.	No.	Rider	Nation	Team	Time	Diff.
1	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	1’54.137
2	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	1’54.342	0.205
3	1	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’54.947	0.810
4	58	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’54.988	0.851
5	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’55.095	0.958
6	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	1’55.223	1.086
7	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	1’55.229	1.092
8	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’55.578	1.441
9	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	1’55.637	1.500
10	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’55.647	1.510
11	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	1’55.656	1.519
12	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’55.724	1.587
13	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	1’55.881	1.744
14	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Pramac Racing Team	1’56.323	2.186
15	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	1’56.665	2.528
16	24	Toni ELIAS	SPA	LCR Honda MotoGP	1’57.992	3.855
DNQ	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP