Lorenzo beats Rossi to Catalunya pole

The Spaniard, running in front of his home crowd at Barcelona, snatched the top spot from his Italian rival with just one minute of the one-hour session remaining, thanks to a 1m41.974s lap, after Rossi had led the times for the previous 20 minutes.

A final charge by the two riders ended up with both setting exactly the same time, just 0.013 seconds off pole.

Ducati's Casey Stoner will complete the front row, with his best lap being over four tenths slower than the ones set by the Yamahas.

Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) will start the race from the fourth spot, followed by Toni Elias (Gresini Honda), Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha), who crashed with five minutes to go, and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda).

Dani Pedrosa, who could only set the eighth fastest time, had to be stretchered out of the track with just two minutes of the session remaining, after he dropped his Honda bike in the gravel in an effort to avoid hitting the barriers.

Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland was ninth quickest, with Pramac Ducati's Mika Kallio completing the top ten just ahead of the Suzukis of Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m41.974s
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m41.987s  + 0.013s
 3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           1m42.426s  + 0.452s
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m42.594s  + 0.620s
 5.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m43.139s  + 1.165s
 6.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m43.168s  + 1.194s
 7.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m43.175s  + 1.201s
 8.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m43.207s  + 1.233s
 9.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m43.233s  + 1.259s
10.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    1m43.336s  + 1.362s
11.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m43.365s  + 1.391s
12.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m43.411s  + 1.437s
13.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m43.414s  + 1.440s
14.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m43.422s  + 1.448s
15.  Sete Gibernau     Hernando Ducati  1m43.714s  + 1.740s
16.  Yuki Takahashi    Scot Honda       1m43.777s  + 1.803s
17.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m43.792s  + 1.818s
18.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m43.991s  + 2.017s
19.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m45.833s  + 3.859s