The curtain-raising hour of final qualifying here under the floodlights at Losail proved that the established order of rank, at least this far, has changed. Newcomer to the class Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) grabbed pole at his first premier class Grand Prix.
British star James Toseland, who held onto pole for much of the hour-long session, lines up second on the grid and Colin Edwards (both Yamaha) completes the front row. This stint was a struggle for the leading Honda men – but they did not buckle under early season pressure from the opposition.
Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) just edged ahead of former World Champion Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) claiming fifth spot on the grid with the American star sixth fastest. Casey Stoner (Ducati) secured fourth to head row two.
De Puniet proved he had the mettle to run with the pace-setters early on and another eager contender was Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) who proved he has adapted to the 2008 Honda RC212V having moved up from the 250c class. The French LCR man lay fifth at the halfway stage with De Angelis sixth.
Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 5th - 1m 54.818s
“It’s coming better but in the first part of qualifying I didn’t have a good feeling from the front tyre but the lap time was good. Last week at the test I was very happy with the bike and we didn’t change anything but the bike felt different from the start of practice here. I had a big crash on my second bike and I have to thank my team who worked very hard to get it ready for me this afternoon. I used the bike to set fifth fastest time and feel more confident with the bike now. My qualifying time could possibly have been faster but I came across Toni Elias at turn three. I am ready and I hope to have a good race.
