Valentino Rossi maintained his dominant pre-season form by leading the time sheets on the first day of the Qatar testing session. This is a huge psychological boost for the Fiat Yamaha team as the Losail track has been a Ducati favourite over the last few years.

There was more good news for Yamaha as Ben Spies and Colin Edwards took 3rd and 4th place on the timesheets, and Jorge Lorenzo showed a strong performance by finishing in 7th place despite still recovering from injury.

Both factory Ducatis finished strongly in the top 10 with Casey Stoner threatening to break Rossi’s dominance on a number of occasions, while Dani Pedrosa had a frustrating test session spending most of it towards the bottom of the timesheets before ending in 10th place.

1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m55.402s 64
2. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m55.717s + 0.315s 48
3. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 1m55.954s + 0.552s 44
4. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m56.540s + 1.138s 59
5. Randy De Puniet LCR Honda 1m56.588s + 1.186s 54
6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m56.811s + 1.409s 65
7. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m56.838s + 1.436s 45
8. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m56.855s + 1.453s 77
9. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m56.923s + 1.521s 72
10. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m57.047s + 1.645s 60
11. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m57.099s + 1.697s 40
12. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 1m57.605s + 2.203s 63
13. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m57.822s + 2.420s 62
14. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 1m57.888s + 2.486s 75
15. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m57.891s + 2.489s 63
16. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1m57.898s + 2.496s 67
17. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m57.960s + 2.558s 56

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