# 2008 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix

The 2008 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix was the opening round of the 2008 MotoGP championship. It took place on the weekend of 7–9 March 2008 at the Losail International Circuit located in Doha, Qatar. The race was historic in that it was the first one to be run at night, with the MotoGP race getting underway at 23:00 local time. Rookies Lorenzo and Toseland started their season strong with Lorenzo getting pole position and Toseland in 2nd during qualifying.

## MotoGP classification

| Pos. | No. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Casey Stoner | Ducati Marlboro Team | Ducati | 22 | 42:36.587 | 4 | 25 |
| 2 | 48 | Jorge Lorenzo | Fiat Yamaha Team | Yamaha | 22 | +5.323 | 1 | 20 |
| 3 | 2 | Dani Pedrosa | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 22 | +10.600 | 8 | 16 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | JiR Team Scot MotoGP | Honda | 22 | +13.288 | 9 | 13 |
| 5 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Fiat Yamaha Team | Yamaha | 22 | +13.305 | 7 | 11 |
| 6 | 52 | James Toseland | Tech 3 Yamaha | Yamaha | 22 | +14.040 | 2 | 10 |
| 7 | 5 | Colin Edwards | Tech 3 Yamaha | Yamaha | 22 | +15.150 | 3 | 9 |
| 8 | 65 | Loris Capirossi | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 22 | +32.505 | 13 | 8 |
| 9 | 14 | Randy de Puniet | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 22 | +33.003 | 5 | 7 |
| 10 | 69 | Nicky Hayden | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 22 | +38.354 | 6 | 6 |
| 11 | 33 | Marco Melandri | Ducati Marlboro Team | Ducati | 22 | +44.284 | 16 | 5 |
| 12 | 21 | John Hopkins | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki | 22 | +49.857 | 10 | 4 |
| 13 | 56 | Shinya Nakano | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 22 | +49.871 | 15 | 3 |
| 14 | 24 | Toni Elías | Alice Team | Ducati | 22 | +58.532 | 14 | 2 |
| 15 | 50 | Sylvain Guintoli | Alice Team | Ducati | 22 | +58.930 | 17 | 1 |
| 16 | 13 | Anthony West | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki | 22 | +1:05.643 | 18 | |
| 17 | 7 | Chris Vermeulen | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 21 | +1 lap | 11 | |
| Ret | 15 | Alex de Angelis | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 16 | Accident | 12 | |
| Sources: |||||||||

## 250 cc classification

| Pos. | No. | Rider | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 75 | Mattia Pasini | Aprilia | 20 | 40:16.202 | 5 | 25 |
| 2 | 21 | Héctor Barberá | Aprilia | 20 | +0.557 | 2 | 20 |
| 3 | 36 | Mika Kallio | KTM | 20 | +1.029 | 4 | 16 |
| 4 | 6 | Alex Debón | Aprilia | 20 | +1.418 | 1 | 13 |
| 5 | 72 | Yuki Takahashi | Honda | 20 | +12.944 | 7 | 11 |
| 6 | 19 | Álvaro Bautista | Aprilia | 20 | +14.480 | 3 | 10 |
| 7 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Aprilia | 20 | +16.721 | 11 | 9 |
| 8 | 15 | Roberto Locatelli | Gilera | 20 | +18.987 | 9 | 8 |
| 9 | 41 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia | 20 | +32.232 | 8 | 7 |
| 10 | 55 | Héctor Faubel | Aprilia | 20 | +41.102 | 15 | 6 |
| 11 | 60 | Julián Simón | KTM | 20 | +41.457 | 14 | 5 |
| 12 | 32 | Fabrizio Lai | Gilera | 20 | +41.694 | 13 | 4 |
| 13 | 14 | Ratthapark Wilairot | Honda | 20 | +43.192 | 19 | 3 |
| 14 | 54 | Manuel Poggiali | Gilera | 20 | +44.228 | 18 | 2 |
| 15 | 12 | Thomas Lüthi | Aprilia | 20 | +48.760 | 10 | 1 |
| 16 | 4 | Hiroshi Aoyama | KTM | 20 | +1:11.031 | 12 | |
| 17 | 45 | Doni Tata Pradita | Yamaha | 20 | +2:05.461 | 23 | |
| Ret | 25 | Alex Baldolini | Aprilia | 14 | Retirement | 17 | |
| Ret | 52 | Lukáš Pešek | Aprilia | 12 | Accident | 16 | |
| Ret | 58 | Marco Simoncelli | Gilera | 7 | Accident | 6 | |
| Ret | 10 | Imre Tóth | Aprilia | 4 | Retirement | 22 | |
| Ret | 43 | Manuel Hernández | Aprilia | 0 | Accident | 21 | |
| Ret | 50 | Eugene Laverty | Aprilia | 0 | Accident | 20 | |
| OFFICIAL 250cc REPORT ||||||||

## 125 cc classification

| Pos. | No. | Rider | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 33 | Sergio Gadea | Aprilia | 18 | 38:09.444 | 8 | 25 |
| 2 | 6 | Joan Olivé | Derbi | 18 | +0.932 | 9 | 20 |
| 3 | 17 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia | 18 | +1.660 | 15 | 16 |
| 4 | 63 | Mike Di Meglio | Derbi | 18 | +1.771 | 3 | 13 |
| 5 | 45 | Scott Redding | Aprilia | 18 | +1.819 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 | 99 | Danny Webb | Aprilia | 18 | +7.689 | 5 | 10 |
| 7 | 24 | Simone Corsi | Aprilia | 18 | +8.684 | 10 | 9 |
| 8 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | Derbi | 18 | +8.693 | 18 | 8 |
| 9 | 7 | Efrén Vázquez | Aprilia | 18 | +9.054 | 19 | 7 |
| 10 | 18 | Nicolás Terol | Aprilia | 18 | +10.902 | 7 | 6 |
| 11 | 11 | Sandro Cortese | Aprilia | 18 | +10.945 | 13 | 5 |
| 12 | 1 | Gábor Talmácsi | Aprilia | 18 | +12.618 | 2 | 4 |
| 13 | 27 | Stefano Bianco | Aprilia | 18 | +12.709 | 12 | 3 |
| 14 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 18 | +20.086 | 17 | 2 |
| 15 | 60 | Michael Ranseder | Aprilia | 18 | +23.575 | 22 | 1 |
| 16 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Aprilia | 18 | +23.890 | 1 | |
| 17 | 77 | Dominique Aegerter | Derbi | 18 | +29.406 | 20 | |
| 18 | 22 | Pablo Nieto | KTM | 18 | +32.891 | 16 | |
| 19 | 73 | Takaaki Nakagami | Aprilia | 18 | +33.346 | 23 | |
| 20 | 30 | Pere Tutusaus | Aprilia | 18 | +33.649 | 26 | |
| 21 | 8 | Lorenzo Zanetti | KTM | 18 | +36.696 | 24 | |
| 22 | 34 | Randy Krummenacher | KTM | 18 | +36.754 | 25 | |
| 23 | 21 | Robin Lässer | Aprilia | 18 | +45.317 | 27 | |
| 24 | 12 | Esteve Rabat | KTM | 18 | +56.440 | 11 | |
| 25 | 69 | Louis Rossi | Honda | 18 | +1:14.502 | 34 | |
| Ret | 35 | Raffaele De Rosa | KTM | 15 | Accident | 6 | |
| Ret | 13 | Dino Lombardi | Aprilia | 11 | Retirement | 32 | |
| Ret | 56 | Hugo van den Berg | Aprilia | 10 | Accident | 29 | |
| Ret | 71 | Tomoyoshi Koyama | KTM | 8 | Accident | 21 | |
| Ret | 51 | Stevie Bonsey | Aprilia | 5 | Accident | 14 | |
| Ret | 16 | Jules Cluzel | Loncin | 4 | Accident | 30 | |
| Ret | 5 | Alexis Masbou | Loncin | 1 | Retirement | 28 | |
| Ret | 19 | Roberto Lacalendola | Aprilia | 1 | Retirement | 33 | |
| Ret | 95 | Robert Mureșan | Aprilia | 0 | Retirement | 31 | |
| OFFICIAL 125cc REPORT ||||||||

## Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round one has concluded.
| Pos. | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Casey Stoner | 25 |
| 2 | Jorge Lorenzo | 20 |
| 3 | Dani Pedrosa | 16 |
| 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | 13 |
| 5 | Valentino Rossi | 11 |
| Pos. | Constructor | Points |
| 1 | Ducati | 25 |
| 2 | Yamaha | 20 |
| 3 | Honda | 16 |
| 4 | Suzuki | 8 |
| 5 | Kawasaki | 4 |
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.