A reconfirmed Lorenzo Lanzi has been in terrific form over the winter, recapturing the sort of performance that initially earned him his place in the factory Ducati squad for 2006. Now it just remains for the 25 year-old Italian to confirm those testing results in this year's races.

"I feel quite calm about the season ahead because the winter tests went very well so I am relaxed and in the right frame of mind. We worked really well in the tests, trying a lot of new solutions so let's see if we can have a good championship. I set great times everywhere and this really gives me a lot of motivation. I will need that because there are a lot of fast riders out there. The guys to beat will be those on the Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda, we're all going to be up there fighting for the win. I've always gone pretty good at Qatar, even though I had that bad crash last year, so we'll be looking to start off well in tomorrow's first practice session."

THE CIRCUIT
Name: Losail International Circuit
Length: 5.380 km
Pole Position: right
Finish line length: 1068 metres
Race distance: 2 x 18 laps/96.840 km

STATISTICS: Best lap: Bayliss (Ducati), 1m59.696s (2006). Lap record: Haga (Yamaha), 2m00.061s (2006). Superpole: Bayliss (Ducati), 1m59.696s (2006).

2006 RESULTS: Race 1 - 1. Toseland (Honda); 2. Bayliss (Ducati); 3. Pitt (Yamaha). Race 2 - 1. Corser (Suzuki); 2. Bayliss; 3. Haga (Yamaha).

TV COVERAGE: British Eurosport (UK): Friday 23 February, 1745 Superpole (as live); Saturday 24 February 0815 race 1 + race 2 (live). Eurosport (Pan European): Saturday 24 February, 1400 race 2 (as live); Eurosport 2 (Pan-European): Sunday 25 February, 1100 race 1 + race 2 (delayed); La7 (Italy): Saturday 24 February, 0930 race 1 (live), 1320 race 2 (live).