Rossi confident ahead of Qatar

The Italian was fastest overall in the 40-minute shootout session at Jerez, edging out Honda's Dani Pedrosa, and believes his performance there puts him in good shape to take his third win at the Losail circuit.

"After the great test in Jerez we're going to the first race feeling confident and happy," said Rossi.

"Last year we had some problems at the final test that left us feeling worried going to the first race, but more than anything Jerez proved that we're in a very different situation to last year and confirmed the great job we've done with the new M1 over the winter.

"Now it's finally time for the first race and it's time to see if all our hard work pays off. Everyone is very excited and very motivated after what happened last year and our aim is very simple - to win."

Teammate Colin Edwards, who has shone in preseason testing, is equally upbeat about how the M1 should fair in Qatar.

"I'm feeling really confident going back there for the first race, especially after our last test there when I was pretty fast every day, and the progress we made at Jerez last week," he explained.

"The track suits my style and I felt really comfortable there during the test, so hopefully we can translate that to the race conditions.

"We had some problems in the race last year but I am feeling completely different now because this bike is a whole new ballgame.

"After working really well on smooth tracks like Sepang and Qatar we managed to adopt it to the bumps at Jerez with a completely different setting so I'm really confident that we have a great package for the whole season.

"I've said throughout preseason that the target this season is to win races, so I'm looking forward to getting started."