Britain's James Toseland will start the Qatar MotoGP from second on the grid after a rookie-dominated qualifying session at Losail.

The Yamaha Tech 3 man looked set for pole position under floodlights but lost out to a late effort from reigning 250cc champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Toseland clocked 1:54.182 just over midway through the session and had no time to respond when Lorenzo lapped in 1:53.927 with two minutes remaining.

The Briton's Tech 3 team-mate Colin Edwards completed an all-Yamaha front row, while world champion Casey Stoner had to make do with fourth.

Stoner and Valentino Rossi - seventh - are the only Bridgestone-shod riders on the first three rows of the grid as Michelin tyres thrived in the cold, evening conditions.

Frenchman Randy de Puniet was the fastest Honda in fifth, while 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden beat his team-mate on rival Dani Pedrosa to claim sixth and a place on the second row.

Five-time champion Valentino Rossi struggled for pace in comparison with Lorenzo - perhaps illustrating the gulf in performance between his Bridgestone tyres and Lorenzo's Michelins.

Qatar MotoGP grid

1 - Jorge Lorenzo - 1:53.927

2 - James Toseland - +0.255

3 - Colin Edwards - +0.572

4 - Casey Stoner - +0.806

5 - Randy de Puniet - +0.891

6 - Nicky Hayden - +0.953

7 - Valentino Rossi - +1.206

8 - Dani Pedrosa - +1.243

9 - Andrea Dovizioso - +1.258

10 - John Hopkins - +1.336

11 - Chris Vermeulen - +1.613

12 - Alex de Angelis - +1.765

13 - Loris Capirossi - +2.143

14 - Toni Elias - +2.324

15 - Shinya Nakano - +2.507

16 - Marco Melandri - +2.803

17 - Sylvain Guintoli - +3.271

18 - Anthony West - +3.518

Follow all three races LIVE on Sunday afternoon with the 125s at 5pm, 250s at 6.15pm and MotoGP at 8pm!

British Eurosport is available on Sky channel 410 and Virgin Media channel 521.

Alex Chick / Eurosport