Qatar MotoGP, 19-20 March
Sunday 20 March: 125cc and Moto2: 1550-1805, BBC Red Button/online. MotoGP live: 1830-2000, BBC Two/online. MotoGP repeat: 0000-0130, BBC Two

Pole best way to start season - Stoner

Casey Stoner put in a storming display to clinch pole position for Sunday's MotoGP season-opening race in Qatar.

The Australian 2007 world champion, topped the standings for most of the session, apart from a brief flurry by Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

Stoner's fastest lap of one minute 54.137 seconds was 0.205 seconds clear of Pedrosa.

Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo will complete the front row, with Britain's Cal Crutchlow in eighth.

Tech 3 Yamaha rider Crutchlow, who will be making his MotoGP debut, will start one place ahead of multiple world champion Valentino Rossi, who is making his Ducati debut but is struggling with a shoulder injury.

Crutchlow suffered a heavy crash during testing earlier this week which resulted in him losing the tip of the little finger on his left hand.

It was the 27th career pole for Stoner but for Pedrosa it will be a first front-row start at the Losail track.

The surprise of the session was Marco Simoncelli, who took fourth, just four-hundredths of a second behind Lorenzo.

Stoner, who won in Doha in 2007, 2008 and 2009, said: "The consistency we've shown in pre-season testing is something that's really given us a lot of confidence.

"The team's done a fantastic job, they've done everything right and we've made small steps in every session and slowly got the bike to a place where we really enjoy it."

Lorenzo admitted he had been off the pace in qualifying but was hopeful of improving in the race itself.

"We are still quite far behind the front, but our goal is to finish on the podium and that is in my mind for Sunday," he said.

"My race pace is pretty good; I think I can keep running 1:55.7s or maybe 1:55.8s. We will finalise our set up in warm-up and try to achieve that."

The field for Sunday's race was reduced to 16 after Rizla Suzuki's only rider Alvaro Bautista crashed in practice on Friday and broke his left thigh bone.

Starting grid

1. Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda 1min 54.137sec
2. Dani Pedrosa (Esp) Honda at 0.205
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Esp) Yamaha 0.810
4. Marco Simoncelli (Ita) Honda 0.851
5. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 0.958
6. Hector Barbera (Esp) Ducati 1.086
7. Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 1.092
8. Cal Crutchlow (GB) Yamaha 1.441
9. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Ducati 1.500
10. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1.510
11. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Ducati 1.519
12. Hiroshi Aoyama (Jpn) Honda 1.587
13. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 1.744
14. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 2.186
15. Karel Abraham (Cze) Ducati 2.528
16. Toni Elias (ESP) Honda 3.855

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