Rossi on Qatar pole

Rossi had spent most of the session inside the top five, but had not threatened the out-and-out pace until the final five minutes of the session when everyone came out on qualifying tyres.

Rossi had spent most of the session inside the top five, but had not threatened the out-and-out pace until the final five minutes of the session when everyone came out on qualifying tyres.

And the 28-year-old Italian showed why he has ridden to five world titles in the past as he pulled a stunning lap of 1:55.002 out of the bag on his Yamaha to wrest his 36th pole position from Ducati rider Stoner by just five thousandths of a second.

"I must say thank you to Yamaha, who worked hard in practice," said Rossi. "We were always on top, and this is a good way to start.

"I made a mistake on the first lap, but the second was a 55.0, which is a great time. I'm very happy."

Rossi's Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards had led qualifying for most of the session but could only manage third in the end - one spot ahead of Toni Elias, who grabbed a useful tow from Edwards to head the second row on his Gresini Honda after earlier taking a trip through the gravel.

After a trying session Dani Pedrosa wrestled his Repsol bike up to fifth to leave himself ahead of John Hopkins' Suzuki, Loris Capirossi's Ducati - who had two offs - and Randy de Puniet's impressive Kawasaki.

World champion Nicky Hayden and Marco Melandri rounded out the top ten on their Repsol and Gresini Hondas, with the latter having a trip through the gravel.

Both Shinya Nakano (11th - Konica Minolta Honda) and Britain's Jeremy McWilliams (20th - Ilmor) crashed heavily during the session, the latter on his final qualifying lap.

But it was a good day for Sylvain Guintoli, the Tech-3 Yamaha rookie, who out-qualified both his experienced team-mate Makoto Tamada and former champion Kenny Roberts Jr.