Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner (Photo: Ducati Corse)

World Superbike champion Toseland, riding an underpowered 2007 M1Yamaha, rode a tenacious debut race and fully deserved his sixth place, finishing right behind the Dovizioso/Rossi battle.

“It was gamble to come to MotoGP but this justifies the move,” Toseland said. “I learned a lot in this race riding with guys like Rossi and I now feel I deserve to be here.”

Rossi, beaten by two rookies in Lorenzo and Dovizioso, said that his team has to work to understand the switch from Michelin to Bridgestone tires. He lacked rear corner grip.

“I hoped to arrive on the podium, but it was not possible, I tried at the maximum to stay with Pedrosa, but no way,” Rossi said. “I think we need to throw away all the settings that we have with Michelin and understand how use this type of tire in our bike.”

Lorenzo’s factory Yamaha, identical to Rossi’s bike, finished second on Michelins.

Problems with Bridgestone front tires spoiled the races of Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) and John Hopkins (Kawasaki). Vermeulen’s front tire was destroyed after five laps and he made a pitstop for a tire change on lap 10, eventually finishing 17th and last.

By mid-race Hopkins had similar problems and struggled to finish 12th.

“At half distance I had no choice but to hold the bike up on my knee because of the front tire and that put a lot pressure on my injury,” said Hopkins whose groin injury has still not fully recovered.

Hopkins, cramped with pain, had to be lifted off his bike at the end of the race.

America’s 2006 world champion, Nicky Hayden, who made a late switch to a 2007 Honda RC212V for this race finished a frustrated 10th, after being as far back as twelfth.

“It wasn’t pretty for sure,” Hayden said. “We missed the set-up and worked the tire way too hard.”

Using a revised 2008 chassis, Hayden’s teammate Pedrosa made a lightning start to lead the opening four laps with an impressive return to form after a lay-off with a fractured right hand.

“This result is unbelievable, a week ago in the test here I was almost last so I’m very happy,” said Pedrosa who struggled for braking power because of his hand late in the race.

Texan Colin Edwards finished seventh after qualifying third.

“That was bizarre; the tire didn’t feel the same as in practice and it was like speedway out there. That’s best result I could get,” Edwards said.

Riders reported no problems racing under lights and this night concept will be part of MotoGP’s future in Qatar with the race contract extended to 2016.