Gibernau on pole

Sete Gibernau has taken pole position for Sunday’s Catalunya Grand Prix.

The Spaniard set a storming time of 1:42.337 in front of a massive home crowd to take the top spot, just ahead of Movistar Honda team-mate Marco Melandri.

World champion Valentino Rossi finishes the front row of the grid in third position claiming he didn’t ride as fast as he could.

Max Biaggi managed to keep fourth place on the grid despite a dramatic last lap. The Italian went in for a late tyre change and went back out on track with barely enough time to get round before the flag was wave for the end of the session.

He tried so hard to make it in time that he ran wide and ended up in the gravel, loosing all chance of a final flying lap.

Nicky Hayden and Loris Capirossi finish the second row of the grid.

Final qualifying positions:

Sete Gibernau

Marco Melandri

Valentino Rossi

Max Biaggi

Nicky Hayden

Loris Capirossi

Colin Edwards

Carlos Checa

Alex Barros

Makoto Tamada

John Hopkins

Shinya Nakano

Kenny Roberts

Alex Hofmann

Troy Bayliss

Ruben Xaus

Roberto Rolfo

David Checa

Shane Byrne

James Ellison

Franco Battaini