The Desmosedici GP12 will start its debut Grand Prix on the second row tomorrow evening, with Ducati Team rider Nicky Hayden having posted a top-five time in tonight’s (Saturday) qualifying session at Qatar’s Losail International Circuit. Team-mate Valentino Rossi, after a trio of progressively improving free-practice sessions, encountered set-up problems that prevented him from doing better than twelfth place.

While Nicky Hayden immediately felt at home with his bike’s set-up and was able to log consistently good lap times even with the hard tyre, Valentino Rossi had a much different experience and didn’t find the same feeling that had enabled him to post better times on Friday.

Nicky Hayden:
"Our goal tonight was to be in the top five, and I’m pleased that we achieved that. I did a 56.1 on a hard tyre and to be honest, I thought maybe I could do something really special with the soft, but all things considered, I think we did decently in our first qualifying session....More here: http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2012/ducati+review+qatar+qp