2008 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix

The 2008 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix was the opening round of the 2008 MotoGP championship. It took place on the weekend of 7–9 March 2008 at the Losail International Circuit located in Doha, Qatar. The race was historic in that it was the first one to be run at night, with the MotoGP race getting underway at 23:00 local time. Rookies Lorenzo and Toseland started their season strong with Lorenzo getting pole position and Toseland in 2nd during qualifying.

  2008 Qatar Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 18 races in the 2008 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	9 March 2008
Official name	Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar
Location	Losail International Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.380 km (3.343 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position Rider Jorge Lorenzo Time 1:53.927 Fastest lap Rider Casey Stoner Time 1:55.153 Podium First Casey Stoner Second Jorge Lorenzo Third Dani Pedrosa
250 cc
Pole position Rider Alex Debón Time 1:59.470 Fastest lap Rider Alex Debón Time 1:59.379 Podium First Mattia Pasini Second Héctor Barberá Third Mika Kallio
125 cc
Pole position Rider Bradley Smith Time 2:05.242 Fastest lap Rider Scott Redding Time 2:05.695 Podium First Sergio Gadea Second Joan Olivé Third Stefan Bradl

MotoGP classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Casey Stoner	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	22	42:36.587	4	25
2	48	Jorge Lorenzo	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	22	+5.323	1	20
3	2	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	22	+10.600	8	16
4	4	Andrea Dovizioso	JiR Team Scot MotoGP	Honda	22	+13.288	9	13
5	46	Valentino Rossi	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	22	+13.305	7	11
6	52	James Toseland	Tech 3 Yamaha	Yamaha	22	+14.040	2	10
7	5	Colin Edwards	Tech 3 Yamaha	Yamaha	22	+15.150	3	9
8	65	Loris Capirossi	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	22	+32.505	13	8
9	14	Randy de Puniet	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	22	+33.003	5	7
10	69	Nicky Hayden	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	22	+38.354	6	6
11	33	Marco Melandri	Ducati Marlboro Team	Ducati	22	+44.284	16	5
12	21	John Hopkins	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki	22	+49.857	10	4
13	56	Shinya Nakano	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	22	+49.871	15	3
14	24	Toni Elías	Alice Team	Ducati	22	+58.532	14	2
15	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Alice Team	Ducati	22	+58.930	17	1
16	13	Anthony West	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki	22	+1:05.643	18
17	7	Chris Vermeulen	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	21	+1 lap	11
Ret	15	Alex de Angelis	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	16	Accident	12
Sources:

250 cc classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	75	Mattia Pasini	Aprilia	20	40:16.202	5	25
2	21	Héctor Barberá	Aprilia	20	+0.557	2	20
3	36	Mika Kallio	KTM	20	+1.029	4	16
4	6	Alex Debón	Aprilia	20	+1.418	1	13
5	72	Yuki Takahashi	Honda	20	+12.944	7	11
6	19	Álvaro Bautista	Aprilia	20	+14.480	3	10
7	17	Karel Abraham	Aprilia	20	+16.721	11	9
8	15	Roberto Locatelli	Gilera	20	+18.987	9	8
9	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia	20	+32.232	8	7
10	55	Héctor Faubel	Aprilia	20	+41.102	15	6
11	60	Julián Simón	KTM	20	+41.457	14	5
12	32	Fabrizio Lai	Gilera	20	+41.694	13	4
13	14	Ratthapark Wilairot	Honda	20	+43.192	19	3
14	54	Manuel Poggiali	Gilera	20	+44.228	18	2
15	12	Thomas Lüthi	Aprilia	20	+48.760	10	1
16	4	Hiroshi Aoyama	KTM	20	+1:11.031	12
17	45	Doni Tata Pradita	Yamaha	20	+2:05.461	23
Ret	25	Alex Baldolini	Aprilia	14	Retirement	17
Ret	52	Lukáš Pešek	Aprilia	12	Accident	16
Ret	58	Marco Simoncelli	Gilera	7	Accident	6
Ret	10	Imre Tóth	Aprilia	4	Retirement	22
Ret	43	Manuel Hernández	Aprilia	0	Accident	21
Ret	50	Eugene Laverty	Aprilia	0	Accident	20
OFFICIAL 250cc REPORT

125 cc classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	33	Sergio Gadea	Aprilia	18	38:09.444	8	25
2	6	Joan Olivé	Derbi	18	+0.932	9	20
3	17	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia	18	+1.660	15	16
4	63	Mike Di Meglio	Derbi	18	+1.771	3	13
5	45	Scott Redding	Aprilia	18	+1.819	4	11
6	99	Danny Webb	Aprilia	18	+7.689	5	10
7	24	Simone Corsi	Aprilia	18	+8.684	10	9
8	44	Pol Espargaró	Derbi	18	+8.693	18	8
9	7	Efrén Vázquez	Aprilia	18	+9.054	19	7
10	18	Nicolás Terol	Aprilia	18	+10.902	7	6
11	11	Sandro Cortese	Aprilia	18	+10.945	13	5
12	1	Gábor Talmácsi	Aprilia	18	+12.618	2	4
13	27	Stefano Bianco	Aprilia	18	+12.709	12	3
14	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	18	+20.086	17	2
15	60	Michael Ranseder	Aprilia	18	+23.575	22	1
16	38	Bradley Smith	Aprilia	18	+23.890	1
17	77	Dominique Aegerter	Derbi	18	+29.406	20
18	22	Pablo Nieto	KTM	18	+32.891	16
19	73	Takaaki Nakagami	Aprilia	18	+33.346	23
20	30	Pere Tutusaus	Aprilia	18	+33.649	26
21	8	Lorenzo Zanetti	KTM	18	+36.696	24
22	34	Randy Krummenacher	KTM	18	+36.754	25
23	21	Robin Lässer	Aprilia	18	+45.317	27
24	12	Esteve Rabat	KTM	18	+56.440	11
25	69	Louis Rossi	Honda	18	+1:14.502	34
Ret	35	Raffaele De Rosa	KTM	15	Accident	6
Ret	13	Dino Lombardi	Aprilia	11	Retirement	32
Ret	56	Hugo van den Berg	Aprilia	10	Accident	29
Ret	71	Tomoyoshi Koyama	KTM	8	Accident	21
Ret	51	Stevie Bonsey	Aprilia	5	Accident	14
Ret	16	Jules Cluzel	Loncin	4	Accident	30
Ret	5	Alexis Masbou	Loncin	1	Retirement	28
Ret	19	Roberto Lacalendola	Aprilia	1	Retirement	33
Ret	95	Robert Mureșan	Aprilia	0	Retirement	31
OFFICIAL 125cc REPORT

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round one has concluded.

Riders' Championship standings

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Casey Stoner	25
2	Jorge Lorenzo	20
3	Dani Pedrosa	16
4	Andrea Dovizioso	13
5	Valentino Rossi	11

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos.	Constructor	Points
1	Ducati	25
2	Yamaha	20
3	Honda	16
4	Suzuki	8
5	Kawasaki	4

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.