Rookie Fiat Yamaha rider, Jorge Lorenzo qualifed for pole position in his first MotoGP race - breaking the previous pole position record set by his teammate Valentino Rossi by more than a second! Joining Lorenzo on the first row will be Tech 3 and fellow Michelin Yamaha riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards - both riding the 2007 spec, spring value engine.

Also in his first GP race, Toseland has looked impressive all weekend and during much of the preseason as well. So much so that he has reportedly been promised the new pneumatic valve engine by the 3rd round at Estoril.

Defending champion Casey Stoner head up the second row as the fastest Bridgestone qualifer. He is joined by 2006 champoin Nicky Hayden who unlike teammake Dani Pedrosa, choose to race the 2007 spec RC212V motorcycle. Valentino Rossi was the 2nd fastest Bridgestone rider and leads off the third row.

Jorge Lorenzo - Fiat Yamaha
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.

Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha
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.

James Toseland - Yamaha Tech 3
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 couple 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.

Colin Edwards - Yamaha Tech 3
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.

Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro
To be honest I expected to be on the second row so I'm not too disappointed with the result, although I reckon that if I had another qualifying tyre like the one I set my fast lap on I could have comfortably been on the front. Anyway, sometimes there are certain things you can't plan for and the important thing is that we're in a good position for the race. We made one big change to the bike for third free practice and it was really positive but in tonight's qualifying session we tried a few things that didn't have the effect we'd hoped for, so we'll go back to what we know works and I think that with a few more small changes we can be really competitive. There a lot of people with good race times, especially Lorenzo, so it will be interesting to see where everybody is in the warm-up. I know Jorge well from my 125 and 250 days so I'm not surprised that he and Andrea (Dovizioso) are fast but I must admit I didn't expect James Toseland to be so strong and I take my hat off to him. If it comes down to a battle between us it won't be anything different to any other race - everybody on the grid is a strong rival and they all have to be beaten.

Marco Melandri - Ducati Marlboro
Unfortunately there's not much to say about today because things haven't gone well. We've tried a lot of things but nothing has had the result we hoped for. I'm not able to ride well and we just can't seem to find the grip on the front or the rear so I'm just too slow. We want to try out so many things but there's no more time so we'll just have to see how we go in the race.

Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda
We've improved a lot this afternoon, well, tonight. After my first two attempts with race tyres I improved a little, and in the end I was able to run a reasonable time with qualification tyres. Nothing spectacular, but it gives us a decent opportunity for tomorrow. The big problem for us is the long straight here, as we lose a lot of time. I'm running on the bike I used in Valencia. I'm looking forward to racing tomorrow, and though I'd like to maintain a better pace, this is what we've got, and we'll have to make do and fight with it. I'm enjoying riding at night, I think it's good and I hope more circuits decide to install lighting systems. Thanks a lot to my team and to HRC, those guys have worked really hard. What they have done this last week to get more bikes for this race and give us more options is incredible. They have even made a new chassis for Dani which seems to be an important step forward, so I'm sure that the next time I get up on the 2008 bike I'll try out one of those.

Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda
In spite of trying with qualification tyres, I didn't manage to improve my times much today, so tomorrow we'll start out from the third row. We didn't train much this winter with qualification tyres, so we need to carry out more tests to improve that aspect. I'm not happy with my position on the grid, but at least we're in a better position than when we were training here last week. At least I'm satisfied with the fact that we managed to improve on the bike in such a short period of time. Tomorrow we have another 20 minutes to try and improve some more. Regarding the pace, we are not up to the level of the fastest in spite of having improved. But if we bear in mind that we haven't trained that much this winter, that I injured my hand, and that the training sessions here a few days ago didn't go too well, then the conclusion is that the situation isn't that bad. After yesterday's fall my hand hurt a lot, but the treatment I received, and which I will repeat tomorrow morning, is working very well. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race, and I only hope my hand will take so many laps.

John Hopkins - Kawasaki Racing
We went out tonight with the task of finalising our race tyre. The track grip has increased considerably since the test last week and the tyre we started with was a little too soft, so we're now going to opt for a harder compound. We then started using the qualifying tyres, which have been difficult in the cold as, while riding, I have to try to keep the front end hot but the rear cool to make a good lap. We did the best we could and I gave it my all, although we just missed out on the third row. The fourth row isn't exactly where we wanted to be but we have a good race pace and I didn't feel the injury tonight once the adrenalin was pumping, so I'm confident we can do a good job tomorrow. We've got a few improvements to make overnight and the plan is to get a good start and be in the midst of the action. I'm really looking forward to it.

Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing
I certainly didn't expect to come into the new season and qualify dead last on the grid and, obviously, I'm far from happy with how things have gone over the past two days. John has shown that it's possible to get the bike and the tyres working here but, if I'm completely honest, for me it's been more a problem of confidence than set-up. I just don't feel comfortable on the bike; every session I've come close to crashing in the strangest places and I just don't know why. Of course, I'll sit down with my crew tonight to see if we can come up with some options to try in warm-up tomorrow but it's difficult when there isn't a specific problem we can point to and then work to resolve. Despite the problems we've had over the past two days, I'll still be going out in tomorrow's race to push as hard as I can for a good result because that's what I'm here for.

Chris Vermuelen - Rizla Suzuki
We made a lot more progress with the bike today and also my own performance around this track improved. We got into a good rhythm in the first session and at the end I was well inside the top-10 on race tyres. The bike felt good and I could consistently and easily keep doing those times. The qualifying was a different story and it was plain to see that the other tyre manufacturer had an advantage on us on qualifiers, which makes it difficult having to start from back on the fourth row. As for tomorrow's race I'l go out and give it 100% and I know my race pace is better than some of the guys in front of me so I'll see how we can go!

Loris Caprirossi - Rizla Suzuki
I think we can still make a big step in the race conditions and get a good result from here. From when we tried the qualifiers in the test last week, I chose the wrong ones this week. I had only two qualifiers to Chris's three and maybe he had two slightly better ones, as well as one the same as me, and he said it didn't work well for him either. Anyway this was my choice and I know it was a mistake. I am sure that the race will be much better for us.

2008 Losail MotoGP Qualifying Times

 1. Lorenzo    Fiat Yamaha     1:53.927
 2. Toseland   Yamaha Tech3    1:54.182  +0.255
 3. Edwards    Yamaha Tech3    1:54.499  +0.572
 4. Stoner     Ducati Marlboro 1:54.733  +0.806
 5. de Puniet  LCR Honda       1:54.818  +0.891
 6. Hayden     Repsol Honda    1:54.880  +0.953
 7. Rossi      Fiat Yamaha     1:55.133  +1.206
 8. Pedrosa    Repsol Honda    1:55.170  +1.243
 9. Dovizioso  JiR Scot Honda  1:55.185  +1.258
10. Hopkins    Kawasaki Racing 1:55.263  +1.336
11. Vermeulen  Rizla Suzuki    1:55.540  +1.613
12. de Angelis Gresini Honda   1:55.692  +1.765
13. Capirossi  Rizla Suzuki    1:56.070  +2.143
14. Elias      Alice Ducati    1:56.251  +2.324
15. Nakano     Gresini Honda   1:56.434  +2.507
16. Melandri   Ducati Marlboro 1:56.730  +2.803
17. Guintoli   Alice Ducati    1:57.198  +3.271
18. West       Kawasaki Racing 1:57.445  +3.518