Toseland pleased with finishing near Rossi

The reigning World Superbikes champion took his Tech 3-entered 2007 Yamaha to sixth place in the season-opening Grand Prix of Qatar, less than a second behind Rossi's 2008 works Fiat Yamaha.

"To finish just behind Valentino on my very first MotoGP is pretty special, I'm pleased with that," the Briton told autosport.com.

"You know, I would have been over the moon had I got by (JiR Honda's Andrea) Dovizioso and Valentino, but I rode as hard as I could every single lap, and I didn't make any mistakes.

"Except for the very last corner on the last lap, cause Valentino tried to outbrake Dovizioso, and he braked that late that I braked even later. I went a bit wide on that but that was it."

Toseland added: "This is the first time I've ever been in a race situation with (the other riders). There were a couple of instances when we were a bit close, and that's down to lack of experience with me, actually never riding against these kind of guys, and knowing their riding style and how they take the corners on.

"I thought the gap was open and then they kinda closed the door, and I'm just not used to riding against these people. It's priceless to actually do a full race around everybody, to know how they do things, to learn through the whole race what happens."