Gibernau on Oz pole

Sete Gibernau has taken pole position for the penultimate round of the MotoGP world championship.

Gibernau beat Rossi to the top spot by 0.455 seconds after a late push from the Honda camp that saw five RCVs in the top seven.

The surprise of the session came from factory Ducati rider Loris Capirossi who managed to push the struggling Desmosedici to third place on the grid just half a second behind Rossi.

Colin Edwards continues to show improvement on the second Telefonica Honda, taking the first spot on the second row of the grid. He was possibly buoyed by the fact that he has just confirmed his move to Yamaha next year.

Makoto Tamada and Alex Barros finished the second row with Max Biaggi, Alex Hoffman and Troy Bayliss making the third. Biaggi is currently suffering from a poorly foot after a box fell on him in the pit garage on Thursday and kept him awake all night.

Qualifying positions:

Sete Gibernau, Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi, Colin Edwards, Makoto Tamada, Alex Barros, Max Biaggi, Alex Hofmann, Troy Bayliss, Marco Melandri, Shinya Nakano, Ruben Xaus, Carlos Checa, Jeremy Mcwilliams, Nicky Hayden, Gregorio Lavilla, John Hopkins, Norick Abe, Neil Hodgson, Garry Mccoy, Nobuatsu Aoki, James Haydon, James Ellison, Youichi Ui.