CAL Crutchlow has made a fantastic start to his first MotoGP race weekend.

In his first ever qualifying session in the class the Englishman, who lives in Ramsey in the Isle of Man, was faster than the legendary Valentino Rossi.

Cal finished eighth in qualifying at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar yesterday (Saturday) on board the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 motorcycle - one place ahead of multiple world champion and new Ducati rider Rossi.

He also qualified ahead of his teammate Colin Edwards and Rossi's teammate - the 2006 MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden - to name but a few,

Cal said: "It feels great to have qualified eighth when you look at the calibre and record of some of the guys behind me, but I'm not going to be getting ahead of myself.

"It is just a shame it is not the four-rider per row formation because that would be a second row!

"But to be on the third row, I'm happy enough with that. A qualifying session like that is not like Superpole in World Superbikes at all.

"I'm normally used to the intense pressure and being hyped up for one lap, so to have an hour where you build up pace a bit slower felt a bit strange.

"But I'm really happy and my fastest lap wasn't a perfect one. I made a couple of mistakes but I think that's because I'm having a small issue with the front-end in the fast corners.

"But I still managed a 1 minute 55.5 (lap) and I never would have imagined doing that pace a few days ago at the test when I was doing high 57s.

"I'm not going to make a prediction for the race. I'd be happy to get a few points and have a strong race.

"It will be tough to finish where I've qualified but with the help of my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew, it has been a really positive weekend so far."

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner is on pole position for the race which takes place later today (Sunday).