Former MotoGP champion Jorge Lore🐟nzo, who split the factory Hondas of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa at Qatar 2011, has his sights set on going one better in the ♎first race of the new 1000cc era at Losail on Sunday.

Lorenzo was the only Yamaha rider in the top five as he r🎉ode the wheels off his 800cc M1 in last year's event.

The Spaniard returns knowing that the 2012 Yamaha is a mor♏e competitive package, having set strong lap times in all three winter tests, although Stoner again looks to be the man to beat.

While he has never won a premier-class race at Qatar, Lorenzo has a strong record at the desert track, starting his four MotoGP events from the front row and always finishing on the podium.

"I'm very excited to finally make a race and see how we are compared to our rivals," said Lorenzo. "Qatar was a good race for us last year but I 𝓡think this season we have a slightly more competitive bike so I am hoping for good things to happen.

"Because of my hand injury [three rounds from the💞 end of last year, at Phillip Island] it has been a long time since I was in a race so I am really excited for Sunday. I have been training a lot for this season; I'm feeling very good and very happy with the bike as well."

Team manager Wilco Zeelenberg is eager to see how the new machine shapes up in a race situatioဣn.

"I'm really excited to go to Qatar, it's been a longer off season than usual," said the Dutchman. "We had a great winter test season and we solved a lot of problems from 2011 so I'm curious to see how our package behaves under race conditions.

"Testing is one thing but fin꧙ishing on a podium is the real test. Jorge is very fit and the M1 is rea🔥dy to go. Let's clean the track for the first couple of days and then go racing!"

Lor💎enzo finished runner-up to Stoner last season, with three races wins.