Stoner: Qatar win unexpected

Dominating the race in a shoulder-to-shoulder battle with Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, the Australian grabbed his maiden MotoGP win at the beginning of the new 800cc era.

"There was no way going into this race I was expecting to win," he commented. "I thought we had a chance, but I didn't expect to win. I didn't push too hard, so as not to destroy the tyres, and then at the end the bike was feeling pretty good so I decided to push a little harder and we were able to do the job."

Stoner did a 16-lap run on Friday morning's free practice session, his race simulation lap times causing other race teams to sit up and take note. Asked about it after the race, the young rider answered that the basis for his race win was not actually carved out from that session.

"We were always very confident with the tyre life going into the race. That (run) was just to see what the consistency would be," he replied.

"Yes, we were very fast in a straight line, but we still need to iron out some little bugs in the bike, and I think when we do this it's only going to get better and easier to ride and faster, not just on the straights. Everyone's working very well together."