MotoGP: Saturday

Valentino Rossi has taken pole position for the first round of the 2005 MotoGP championship at Jerez with a stunning 1:39.419 lap, around two seconds quicker than the fastest time in practice.

Rossi has worked his way up the timesheets throughout the three practice sessions, after finishing the opening session in fifth place. His pace has demoted Sete Gibernau to second on the grid for the race on Sunday, April 10, with the Spaniard just under half a second slower.

Third and fourth on the grid are Marco Melandri and Nicky Hayden, with Shinya Nakano an impressive fifth quickest.

1. Rossi.

2. Gibernau.

3. Melandri

4. Hayden.

5. Nakano.

6. Capirossi.

7. Tamada.

8. Barros.

9. Bayliss.

10. Hofmann.

11. Hopkins.

12. Checa.

250cc Qualifying 2:

125cc Qualifying 2:

1. Lai 1:47.873.

2. Luthi 1:48.308.

3. Kallio 1:48.537.

4. Pasini 1:48.722.

5. Koyama 1:48.810.

6. Talmacsi 1:48.812.

7. Pesek 1:49.088.

8. Poggiali 1:49.382.

9. Gadea 1:49.692.

10. Simoncelli 1:49.898.

11. Espargaro 1:50.039.

12. Carchano 1:50.050.

13. Bautista 1:50.058.

14. Simon 1:50.177.

15. Kuzuhara 1:50.219.

16. Toth 1:50.392.

17. Sandi 1:50.443.

18. Di Meglio 1:50.558.

19. Cortese 1:50.599.

20. Olive 1:50.627.

21. De Rosa 1:50.691.

22. Masbou 1:50.750.

23. Nieto 1:50.758.

24. Miralles 1:51.049.

25. Hernandez 1:51.270.

26. Braillard 1:51.654.

27. Terol 1:51.808.

28. Pirro 1:51.859.

29. Tunez 1:51.906.

30. Schouten 1:51.985.

31. Iannone 1:52.253.

32. Hommel 1:52.284.

33. Faubel 1:52.615.

34. Rodriguez 1:53.076.

35. Saez 1:53.275.

36. Zanetti 1:53.418.

37. Vostarek 1:54.915.

DNQ Bonache. Giuseppetti. Abraham.

Sete Gibernau has gone fastest in the final practice session before qualifying begins for the opening round of the 2005 MotoGP championship at Jerez in Spain.

Gibernau has conistently headed the practice session timesheets, but Valentino Rossi has now closed to 0.051 behind in the third and final practice. Nicky Hayden and Marco Melandri are third and fourth. Brit Shane Byrne is in 19th place on the Proton KR, and James Ellison has improved on the WCM to go 20th quickest, two seconds ahead of teammate Franco Battaini.

1. Gibernau 1:41.002.

2. Rossi 1:41.071.

3. Hayden 1:41.415.

4. Roberts 1:41.758.

6. Nakano 1:41.784.

7. Biaggi 1:41.887.

8. Eddwards 1:41.916.

9. Hopkins 1:42.139.

10. Checa 1:42.207.

11. Bayliss 1:42.223.

12. Hofmann 1:42.424.

13. Barros 1:42.679.

14. Elias 1:42.679.

15. Tamada 1:42.789.

16. Capirossi 1:42.970.

17. Xaus 1:44.052.

18. Rolfo 1:44.766.

19. Byrne 1:44.857.

20. Ellison 1:46.363.

21. Battaini 1:48.552.

250cc free practice:

125cc free practice: