Stoner took pole in only his second MotoGP race

The Honda rider set a one minute 55.683 seconds lap to push Ducati's Loris Capirossi, winner of the first race in Spain, into second place by 0.038secs.

Another Honda rider, Spaniard Toni Elias, was third fastest.

World champion Valentino Rossi, who was 14th in the first race of the season, was sixth on his Yamaha.

Stoner's achievement came in only his second MotoGP race, and was all the more remarkable as he was suffering from flu, and had been delayed arriving in Qatar because of flight problems.

"I can't believe it especially after all the problems I had getting here but it was certainly all worth it," said Stoner, who finished sixth on his MotoGP debut at Jerez in Spain.

"I don't particularly like the circuit but everything just worked so well and let's hope it continues."

Leading positons after final qualifying: Moto GP: 1 Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda 1:55.683
2 Loris Capirossi (Ita) Ducati 1:55.721
3 Toni Elias (Spa) Honda 1:55.735
4 Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1:55.793
5 Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 1:56.008
6 Valentino Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 1:56.076
7 Sete Gibernau (Spa) Ducati 1:56.177
8 Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1:56.230
9 Shinya Nakano (Jpn) Kawasaki 1:56.237
10 Kenny Roberts (USA) Honda 1:56.272
Selected Other: 17 James Ellison (GB) Yamaha 1:58.674

250cc: 1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) Aprilia 2:01.755
2 Hector Barbera (Spa) Aprilia 2:02.113
3 Roberto Locatelli (Ita) Aprilia 2:02.198
4 Alex De Angelis (Smr) Aprilia 2:02.424
5 Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 2:02.552
6 Jakub Smrz (Cze) Aprilia 2:02.902
Selected other: 23 Chas Davies (GB) Aprilia 2:06.350

125cc:
1 Alvaro Bautista (Spa) Aprilia 2:07.453
2 Mika Kallio (Fin) KTM 2:07.676
3 Sergio Gadea (Spa) Aprilia 2:07.693
4 Lukas Pesek (Cze) Derbi 2:07.872
5 Gabor Talmacsi (Hun) Honda 2:07.877
6 Pablo Nieto (Spa) Aprilia 2:07.923

Selected other: 22 Bradley Smith (GB) Honda 2:10.135