Rossi beats de Puniet to pole

De Puniet had to sit out part of qualifying early on to rest his knee, which is badly swollen after his crash at Mugello last week. But when he rejoined the session, de Puniet was the first man to use qualifying tyres and set a stunning 1:41.901, under the existing lap record and a second clear of the rest of the field .

Rossi was the only man capable of beating de Puniet's lap, edging ahead by 0.061 seconds on his first qualifying run and clinching pole position in sweltering conditions at Catalunya.

Local hero Dani Pedrosa came within 0.09 seconds of de Puniet but had to settle for the outside front row spot, ahead of championship leader Casey Stoner, who was fastest during the first half of the session before dropping back when the field switched to qualifiers.

John Hopkins and Colin Edwards complete the second row, while Nicky Hayden briefly snatched third late in the session only to be edged back to seventh.

The Gresini Honda riders will start eighth and ninth, Toni Elias out-qualifying Marco Melandri. Alex Hofmann overcame a troubled practice to complete the top ten for Pramac D'Antin.

Loris Capirossi ended up 17th after having to abandon his primary bike when a problem hit on his first qualifying run. He ran back to the pits in time to rejoin with his spare bike, but hit traffic and could not improve his time.

De Puniet's teammate Olivier Jacque missed the session following his high-speed crash in final practice, but Kawasaki have not yet ruled him out of the race.

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    1:41.840
 2.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  1:41.901  + 0.061
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     1:42.002  + 0.162
 4.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    1:42.117  + 0.277
 5.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    1:42.233  + 0.393
 6.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    1:42.283  + 0.443
 7.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     1:42.522  + 0.682
 8.  Toni Elias        Honda     1:42.607  + 0.767
 9.  Marco Melandri    Honda     1:42.623  + 0.783
10.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati    1:42.860  + 1.020
11.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    1:42.967  + 1.127
12.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     1:43.334  + 1.494
13.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    1:43.557  + 1.717
14.  Alex Barros       Ducati    1:43.722  + 1.882
15.  Carlos Checa      Honda     1:43.729  + 1.889
16.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    1:43.947  + 2.107
17.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    1:43.948  + 2.108
18.  Kenny Roberts Jr  KR        1:44.263  + 2.423
19.  Kurtis Roberts    KR        1:45.223  + 3.383