Pedrosa satisfied with third place

The Repsol Honda rider - who was fastest in the morning warm-up despite crashing and switching to his spare bike - repeatedly attacked Valentino Rossi for second in the first half of the race, but was ultimately unable to keep pace with the battle between the Italian and eventual winner Casey Stoner.

Instead Pedrosa had to settle for holding off John Hopkins to claim the final podium place.

"I have to be satisfied," Pedrosa told BBC television. "The weekend was tough - we had a crash this morning and I think we did the maximum we could do with the bike.

"It was quite fast in the straight but not enough grip in the corner."

Before the season Pedrosa had been tipped as Rossi's main rival for the championship, and he believes that his Losail result was a perfectly adequate start to a title challenge.

"This result is okay for the first race and there are still 17 remaining so there is a long way to go," said Pedrosa.