VALENTINO Rossi qualified in seventh for the Qatar MotoGP, three places behind Andrea Dovizioso on the Ducati.
Rossi's team mate Jorge Lorenzo took pole with a time of 1m 54.714s while Rossi was almost a full second behind with a best of 1m 55.711.
Talking about his qualifying performance, Rossi said: “Unfortunately in the qualifying session with the second tyre where we had to improve I was stuck in traffic so I could not improve my lap time and I lost some positions. For sure tomorrow it becomes more difficult to start from further behind but we have a good pace so we can be quite competitive.”
MotoGP Qualifying results from Qatar, 2013 MotoGP round 1
1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 54.714s
2. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 54.916s
3. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 55.151s
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) 1m 55.160s
5. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 1m 55.477s
6. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 55.645s
7. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 55.711s
8. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 1m 55.870s
9. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 56.315s
10. Andrea Iannone ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing (GP13) 1m 56.523s
11. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP13) 1m 56.667s
12. Aleix Espargaro ESP Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 1m 57.064s
13. Ben Spies USA Ignite Pramac Racing (GP13) 1m 57.440s
14. Randy De Puniet FRA Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 1m 57.551s
15. Lukas Pesek CZE Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT) 1m 57.926s
16. Yonny Hernandez COL Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 1m 58.058s
17. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT) 1m 58.263s
18. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (ART CRT) 1m 58.271s
19. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT) 1m 58.361s
20. Danilo Petrucci ITA Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT) 1m 58.486s
21. Claudio Corti ITA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT) 1m 58.755s
22. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT) 1m 58.806s
23. Bryan Staring AUS Go&Fun Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT) 1m 58.912s
24. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM CRT) 1m 59.572s
