Ducati Marlboro team rider Casey Stoner dominated the MotoGP season opener in Qatar last Monday evening after beating everyone to the chequered flag with a lead of almost eight seconds.

Stoner, who took his third consecutive win in Losail beat reigning world champion Valentino Rossi aboard his Yamaha who finished second with teammate Jorge Lorenzo crossing the line in third place.

Starting from pole, Stoner made a perfect start and set a blistering pace all throughout the 22-lap race.

“I’m so pleased with this victory because it is fruit of the hard work done by everybody at Ducati over the winter,” Stoner said.

“It has been difficult to work in such short sessions here this weekend and going into the race last night we took a gamble with a setting change that we weren’t sure about, but we got the opportunity to try it in warm-up and it felt great, so thank you to the team that worked really hard during the whole weekend.”

Rossi, who started second on the grid, lost some ground at the start and was passed by Loris Capirossi and then Lorenzo.

Rossi had passed his teammate back by the end of the first lap and on lap three he overtook Capirossi. But by that time Stoner was already some three seconds clear.

The world champion set off in pursuit and after 10 laps had closed the gap to less than two seconds.

However, the wear and tear from pushing so hard on his Bridgestone tires was beginning to show and he wisely chose to settle for the safe option and 20 points, crossing the line 7.771 seconds adrift.

“I knew I needed a good start in order to go with Stoner but unfortunately I didn’t get one and I lost some time fighting with Lorenzo and Capirossi. By then Stoner had already gone,” Rossi said.

“The middle part of the race was fun and I made six or seven good laps to come much closer, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to continue in that rhythm, it was too risky for the tires and I decided it was more important to take the 20 points.”

Lorenzo, who finished second here last year, rode a spirited race from the third grid spot. He slipped down to sixth at one point but found his rhythm and fought back to pass Edwards, Capirossi and eventually Dovizioso to take the final podium spot, a further eight seconds behind Rossi.

Round 2 of the MotoGP World Championship takes place at Motegi in Japan next weekend.