Stoner wins MotoGP opener

Casey Stoner fired a clear message to his competitors in the opening round of the MotoGP season at Qatar, also the first-ever night event - and that is 2007 was not a freak occurrence. And while the Aussie took his Ducati to the lead and was never headed after half race distance, it really was a night for the rookies.

New Yamaha recruit Jorge Lorenzo pulled off a stunning race to place second, ahead of far more experienced team-mate Valentino Rossi who was finding his switch to Bridgestone rubber perhaps not as comfortable as he had first anticipated.

Honda recruit Andrea Dovizioso was equally impressive, pulling off a hard-fought fourth place on his Honda, after spending much of the race dicing with Rossi.

It was a miserable night for the two other Aussies in the event. Chris Vermeulen had effectively trashed his front tyre part-way through the race and had to pull in for a replacement. Meanwhile Kawasaki rider Anthony West had a miserable weekend, crashing in practice and never really feeling confident on his mount.

What they said...

CASEY STONER - 1st
"That was a fantastic race and I really enjoyed it - it was like being back in 125s! The first few laps were really hectic, there were guys bashing fairings and I just tried to stay out of the way. When I got my chance to get through I took it and from there I just focused on setting my pace. Jorge rode brilliantly - it wasn't an easy race by any means, especially at the start. Over the first few laps I was struggling a bit for grip but then the tyres got up to temperature and improved. We knew we had a pretty good package for the race but obviously we couldn't be sure that things would go as well as that. I want to say thanks to everybody at Ducati for a great job, my team, the guys at Bridgestone...Thanks everybody."

LIVIO SUPPO - Ducati MotoGP Project Director
"Casey is unique… there's nothing more to add to that. He didn't even make the smallest mistake today and once again he showed why the number 1 is on his bike."

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2nd, Time: +5.323
"For sure I couldn't have expected a better debut than this and I am very, very excited to be on the podium. Second place is an amazing result for me and I had great fun. The start and first few laps were a bit crazy and really a bit of a scary time for me, but anyway I managed to make it through and get past some riders to get to second. I started to go with Stoner but after a while I became very tired and I started to have a lot of pressure and pain in my arms, so I really couldn't push any more! Anyway he was faster than us and I want to say congratulations to him because he deserved to win tonight. I think if I could have got a better start, maybe I wouldn't have got so tired later on and I would have been able to keep a better rhythm, but anyway I don't think I can ask for more than this tonight. I want to thank Yamaha and Michelin for all the hard work they have put in over the winter to get me to this point, and of course my team for all of their work. I don't want to start talking about the championship yet because this is only my first race, and now we will go to Jerez and do our very best again there and see what happens!"

Dani Pedrosa - 3rd
"Tonight's result is unbelievable, we didn't expect this, so I'm very happy. Seven days ago I was almost last in the tests here but my team have worked really hard, bringing both 2007 and 2008 bikes here and making many changes, they've been fantastic. For the first time I understand the meaning and the legend of HRC and I'm so proud to be part of this. They gave me a competitive bike and the Michelin tyres worked really good and I did my best on track but without them I couldn't have been able to make it. My hand was quite bad from the middle of the race to the end, I couldn't brake perfectly because my hand was shaking all the time but I was able to finish the race and this is the most important thing because the hand should be in better condition at the next race. I made an unbelievable start, I couldn't imagine getting a start like that. I overtook everybody on the way to the first corner and from there I pushed very hard. I couldn't stay with Lorenzo and Stoner, so we still have to improve but since last week's tests we've made an incredible step forward. Now we have a few weeks to recover full strength in the hand before Jerez."

Andrea Dovizioso - 4th
"I'm very emotional for this first race. I never thought I would be so quick to finish so near the front and also become the first Italian rider home, which is great! I never really thought of the podium, as I seemed to start off not so good on the grid. Immediately after the start I pushed hard and tried to concentrate on the job in front, I was aiming at the train of riders just in front of me. Perhaps I asked a little too much of my Michelin tyre combination which behaved very well in the race. I want to thank the team for the fantastic job that they did over the weekend. We struggled a little in qualifying, but came out in a very good way when it was time for the race. We have shown that we are ready to do well in MotoGP with Honda and I look forward to the next race.."

Valentino Rossi- 5th
"We expected a difficult race here, but actually not as difficult as this! We haven't been fast here in Qatar since last week's night test but, despite this, I thought we might be able to fight for the podium. Tonight however it was really difficult and now we have to understand the reason for this result. After five or six laps I started doing 56.4 and 56.5 and from then on I couldn't improve on that pace until the end. I was very fast in braking, but not so fast in the corners. We know that we can make our Bridgestone tyres work better than this, because they are winning tyres and tonight they showed it once again. Throughout the winter, at all tracks, we were very fast and this is the only one where we were not. Now our task is to understand why this happened. We had a couple of ideas to try but in the end we decided to stick to what we know because we need some more time to understand how to improve and how to be faster. We know we can do better than this and so we just need to gather all the information and use it in the best way for the next race. Finally I want to say congratulations to Lorenzo for a great debut tonight; honestly I'm not surprised because I knew he was fast and talented, but he did very well tonight in a hard race so well done to him."

Chris Vermeulen
"Not a great start to the season! I made a good start and got off the line well. I was in a good position, but I had an issue with the front tyre right from the first lap. It just didn't work and after five laps it was completely destroyed, so I had to come in and get a new one fitted. We will have to look at it with Bridgestone and find out why it happened. After we replaced the tyre - with the same spec one - I went back out and just tried to stay out of everyone's way. I ended up following Loris in his battle with de Puniet and I was comfortable doing those lap-times at the end when I had a decent front tyre in. It's a shame really, and although I don't think we had the pace to run with the front group I felt like I could have scored a lot more points than we have now."