Rossi claims pole in Britain

The Italian trailed his three title rivals throughout the one-hour qualifying session until three minutes from the end, when he stopped the clock at 1m28.116s to demote Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo down to second.

Further attempts by Rossi and Honda's Dani Pedrosa got close but did not improve on that lap time, while Rossi impressed with his overall pace, with his three last laps all under the 1m22.2s barrier.

Pedrosa ended up second quickest, less than a tenth behind Rossi, with Lorenzo two tenths further back completing the front row.

Casey Stoner, who crashed his Ducati mid-way through the session and had to walk back to the pits, had to settle for fourth, followed by Andrea Dovizioso's Honda and Colin Edwards' Tech 3 Yamaha.

Marco Melandri qualified his Hayate Kawasaki in seventh, ahead of Toni Elias (Gresini Honda), James Toseland (Tech 3 Yamaha), and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) completing the top ten.

Former world champion Nicky Hayden, who showed improved form in the last two races, qualified his Ducati in a disappointing 15th position, with the American also going off the track twice but rejoining with no consequences.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m28.116s
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m28.211s  + 0.095s
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m28.402s  + 0.286s
 4.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           1m28.446s  + 0.330s
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m28.778s  + 0.662s
 6.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m28.865s  + 0.749s
 7.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m29.065s  + 0.949s
 8.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m29.175s  + 1.059s
 9.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m29.270s  + 1.154s
10.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m29.434s  + 1.318s
11.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    1m29.599s  + 1.483s
12.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m29.600s  + 1.484s
13.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m30.098s  + 1.982s
14.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m30.153s  + 2.037s
15.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m30.268s  + 2.152s
16.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m30.572s  + 2.456s
17.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m31.193s  + 3.077s