• The Repsol Honda rider lands fourth win in five years at Losail
• Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo finishes second

Casey Stoner lived up to tradition as he opened the MotoGP season with a dominant win under the floodlights in Qatar.The 2007 world champion has now won the first race of the year on the Losail circuit in four of the last five years and claimed victory this time on his debut ride for the Repsol Honda team.

The defending champion Jorge Lorenzo was 3.440 seconds back in second with Stoner's team-mate Dani Pedrosa completing the top three.

The third factory Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso, was fourth ahead of his fellow Italian Marco Simoncelli.

The nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi marked his first race for Ducati with a seventh-placed finish while the British debutant Cal Crutchlow was a solid 11th on his first race since moving up from the World Superbike Championship.