08/03/08 - Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo will make his MotoGP debut from pole position at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar on Sunday, after clocking the fastest time ever at the Losail International Circuit in Saturday evening’s premier class qualifying session.

The double 250cc World Champion took the top spot in the final moments of the historic maiden night-time qualifying session with a scorching 1’53.927 lap, becoming the first rider in history to break the Losail 1’54 barrier in the process. He also echoed one of his idols, as he became the first rider to take pole position on debut in the class since Max Biaggi moved up as 250 champ in 1998; the Italian going on to win the race at Suzuka.

Lorenzo’s late time only just overshadowed another 2008 premier class rookie, Tech3 Yamaha rider James Toseland, as the Briton confirmed his superb pace in testing and practice by securing second on the grid for his own MotoGP debut.

Toseland made a statement of intent 20 minutes into the qualifying practice by breaking Valentino Rossi’s pole record from 2007 and did battle for top spot with Lorenzo throughout the session, only to be outdone by the young Spaniard at the death by just 0.255.

Colin Edwards completed an all-Yamaha front row, continuing his renaissance as Toseland’s team-mate in the Tech 3 Yamaha outfit. His appearance in the top three also makes it a Michelin clean sweep on an excellent day for the French tyre manufacturer, with all seven of their riders in the top ten.

The fastest of the Bridgestone brigade was 2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner, the quickest rider in every practice session prior to the evening shootout taking fourth place.

Randy de Puniet was the fastest Honda rider of the day, just ahead of factory rider Nicky Hayden as the final two participants to go round in under 1’55. Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi was, in a rare occurrence for the five-time MotoGP World Champion, the lowest placing Yamaha rider, ahead of Repsol Honda’s 2007 World Championship runner-up Dani Pedrosa, 800cc newcomer Andrea Dovizioso of JiR Team Scot and Kawasaki’s John Hopkins.

250cc

The quarter-litre qualifying practice, meanwhile, saw Lorenzo’s former mentor and close friend Alex Debon take the first pole position of his long career, the 32 year-old using the 250cc 2008 Aprilia RSA he helped to develop last year to great effect to head the front row with a time of 1’59.470.

Lotus Aprilia’s Debon will have one of the new 2008 pole position Tissot watches to compare with Lorenzo’s, while behind him on the grid will be two more Aprilia-equipped Spaniards, Hector Barbera (Pepe Team Toth) and Alvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar), ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Finnish rider Mika Kallio.

125cc

History was made in the 125cc class as the dominant rider at every practice session in Losail this week, Bradley Smith, continued his sparkling form to take his first World Championship pole, courtesy of a 2’05.242 hot lap - thus becoming the first British rider to qualify in first position in the single-cylinder category in over three decades.

Smith, who makes his race debut with Polaris World Aprilia this weekend, was relatively unscathed by a late crash at the end of the session and will be joined on the front row by World Champion Gabor Talmacsi (Bancaja Aspar), Mike di Meglio (Ajo Motorsport) and Blusens Aprilia’s British rookie Scott Redding.

Meanwhile Smith and Redding's compatriot Danny Webb qualified in fifth, to make it three Englishmen in the top five. Redding in turn becomes the youngest ever rider to start a race from the front row of the grid