Checa takes top spot

Carlos Checa upstaged team-mate Valentino Rossi to take pole position for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix at Losail.

The track, new to the MotoGP calendar, has sprung several surprises throughout practice and Checa continued that trend by taking top spot in final qualifying.

His lap of one minute 58.988 seconds was over two seconds faster than Thursday’s best as the riders get used to the new track.

Checa’s Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Rossi endured a much less successful day, ending the session down in eighth, over half a second adrift of pole.