Qatar Moto GP qualifying Casey Stoner rules

Casey Stoner's perfect Repsol Honda MotoGP debut continued during Saturday's qualifying session in Qatar, when the #27 held off team-mate Dani Pedrosa to secure his 27th pole. As they have been all weekend, Stoner and Pedrosa were in a class of their own during qualifying, locking out first and second for much of the hour. No other rider held provisional pole after the opening five minutes and Stoner always managed to respond to Pedrosa's improvements, although the final margin between them was a frail 0.205sec.
"We can't ask for a much better weekend, everything has gone well and the team have made all the right steps and gradually improved the bike as the weekend progressed,” said Stoner. “Tonight I was able to achieve good, consistent lap times again on the hard tire and this is important for the race tomorrow.

“As ever, we will keep our feet on the ground as we've had good starts to seasons in the past and then they haven't played out as expected, we just need to keep working and ensure that we continue to progress. We've done all our homework and the best job possible, now I just want to get the season started.”