Gibernau on China pole

Sete Gibernau looks set to try and make up for crashing out in the last round of the MotoGP world championsip after taking pole position for Sunday’s Shanghai GP.

The Spanish rider has stayed near the top of the table throughout the weekend so far but waited till the qualifying session to make his move for the top spot with a best lap of 1:59.710.

His team-mate Marco Melandri was the only rider to come close to Gibernau’s time and the only other rider to lap under two minutes with a 1:59.873 lap.

Finishing of the three man front row will be the Ducati of Loris Capirossi who ended the session with a fastest lap of 2:00.480.

Suzuki rider John Hopkins leads the second row ahead fo factory Honda rider Nicky Hayden and current champion Valentino Rossi.

Rossi took fifth and sixth fastest times in the first two practice session but slipped to a dissapointing, 13th in free practice three, but he recovered enough to move back up to sixth on the grid.

Official qualifying positions:

Sete Gibernau , 1’59.710

Marco Melandri , 1’59.873

Loris Capirossi , 2’00.480

John Hopkins , 2’00.666

Nicky Hayden , 2’00.747

Valentino Rossi , 2’00.821

Carlos Checa , 2’00.902

Toni Elias , 2’01.081

Kenny Roberts , 2’01.085

Shinya Nakano , 2’01.098

Alex Barros , 2’01.117

Troy Bayliss , 2’01.328

Colin Edwards , 2’01.401

Max Biaggi , 2’01.502

Olivier Jacque , 2’02.072

Ruben Xaus , 2’02.869

Roberto Rolfo , 2’03.886

Tohru Ukawa , 2’04.223

Jurgen Vd Goorbergh , 2’04.594

Franco Battaini , 2’05.468

James Ellison , 2 : 06.496