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Casey Stoner will start from pole position at Sunday's Australian MotoGP.
The Ducati rider clocked the fastest lap of one minute 30.107 seconds in cool and windy weather conditions during qualifying at the Phillip Island circuit.
The Australian, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday, edged out new world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who had been leading with only 15 minutes of qualifying remaining.
The result gives Stoner the opportunity to capture his fourth consecutive win at his home GP.
"It was pushing a lot more wind at the end of the session so we were lucky to even drop the lap times," Stoner said, BBC Sport reported.
Lorenzo was satisfied with second given the weather conditions.
"The conditions were really risky because it was so cold and also incredibly windy and it was hard to stay on the bike sometimes."
American Ben Spies will start from third on his Yamaha and Italy's Marco Simoncelli (Honda) is one place behind him in fourth.
Valentino Rossi -- who won in Malaysia last weekend -- could only manage eighth place.
Dani Pedrosa took part in qualifying and finished in 10th place -- his first appearance since fracturing his collarbone at the Japanese Grand Prix -- but his Repsol Honda team has withdrawn him from Sunday's race.
"Having ridden in the three practice sessions here it's clear that it is really impossible for me to maintain a high pace because I lose strength in my arm and controlling the bike gets increasingly difficult," Pedrosa said after qualifying, BBC Sport reported.
Pedrosa is hoping to be fully recovered for the Portugal MotoGP at Estoril which takes place at the end of October.
