Australian rider Casey Stoner has claimed a career-first pole position at just his second MotoGP race with the fastest time in qualifying for tomorrow's Qatar Grand Prix. Riding the LCR Honda RC211V, Stoner set the fastest ever lap of the 5.3 km Losail Circuit with a time 1.3s under the track record.

Stoner is now the second-youngest rider to start from pole in the premier class, behind American Freddie Spencer. Since arriving in Qatar, Stoner has been consistently the fastest rider in practice and qualifying despite being weakened by 48 hours of travel delays and the effects of a flu virus. Stoner arrived at the track just 30 minutes before the opening practice yesterday.
With nine minutes remaining in today's qualifying session, Stoner made his bid for pole and stunned his rivals with a time of 1'55.683 to open a gap of 0.4s. Loris Capirossi, Nicky Hayden and Toni Elias all made a late challenge but Stoner's time remained unbeaten. The 20-year-old Australian rider secured pole with a final margin of 0.038s over Capirossi with Elias third on the front row.

"Amazing. Incredible. This is great for Casey, great for Honda and the LCR team and fantastic for the future of MotoGP. I knew Casey would be very fast in MotoGP but I thought it would come in the second half of the season after a period of learning and no pressure so this is a little unexpected -- but a great result for Casey and the team."

"I expected it to take a couple of years to be up here on pole position, not in just my second race. But the LCR team have worked perfectly and I have a very strong set-up since first practice and this afternoon it was just a matter of bolting on the qualifying tyres and doing the lap. When I saw the gap closing and the other riders challenging I thought I couldn't keep pole and I would have been happy with a place in the top six. I'm still tired and weak from the flu and all the travel problems so this is a big relief - - it's an amazing feeling to be on pole."