Rossi not writing off Qatar chances

Stoner was a second ahead of the field by the end of the floodlit tests and has won at the track for the past two years, while Valentino Rossi could only finish fifth in last season's opener.

But Rossi thinks Yamaha will be much faster in qualifying and the race than it was in testing.

"Qatar isn't one of our strongest tracks but we still have a few cards to play and I hope that a little more work will see us improve for the first race," he said.

"Tests really mean nothing once you get to racing, the situation is totally different and really we have little idea what will happen until we get there, it's very exciting.

"I'm feeling confident, we're in good shape even if we're going to what was our worst track during testing, but I am happy about the performance of my M1 in general; Yamaha have done a great job and so this makes me happy."

Team manager Davide Brivio agreed that Yamaha has not yet shown its hand at Losail.

"Valentino has been strong during testing and we're not worried about Qatar," he said. "We still have some things to try and we're confident we will be fast enough to challenge there."