Poncharal highly pleased with Edwards and Toseland

Tech3 Yamaha's good form over the winter testing period was followed up with a strong showing at the first round of the season, much to the delight of team boss Herve Poncharal.

The Frenchman saw his new riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards both qualify on the front row at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar and then go on to pick up some valuable World Championship points - with sixth and seventh place finishes respectively prompting an unsurprisingly positive post-race review.

"For the team this was the perfect start to the Championship, both riders on the front row, I could hardly believe it," enthused Poncharal. "To be honest I didn't sleep too well on Saturday night!"

"I was a bit sceptical about the race, because we knew it would be difficult to achieve the same kind of results as in practice, but both of our riders started really well," he continued.

"I think they showed good spirit, they were in the front group until both Jorge (Lorenzo) and Casey (Stoner) pulled away. Until the very end they were in that group going for fourth place so it was a good start."

Looking ahead to the next two races, in southern Spain at Jerez on 30th March and in Portugal on 13th April, Poncharal added: "Everybody is working well. We are happy with everything and we got some good points for the Championship. We know we will have the new engine from Estoril (round three) onwards and the next race in Jerez, before that, top end power will not be as crucial. So all together I'm really pleased."