Rossi delighted with second pole of '08

The Fiat Yamaha rider, whose previous pole came at his home race at Mugello three months ago, has broken Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner stranglehold in qualifying, with the Australian starting first in each of the previous seven Grands Prix.

"Today in the dry I've been going well since this morning," Rossi told Italia1 television.

"The laps on qualifiers were good, especially the last two. I knew I could go quick, and in the last one I pushed hard and I got a great lap time.

"I'm happy to get pole because this year I only scored one at Mugello, so this is my second one."

Rossi is confident he also has good race pace, even though he expect the rest of the field to be close.

"We've worked a bit this afternoon and I have good pace on race tyres too, and that's very important. I go fairly well but we are all quite close. The Michelins have good pace and are very close to us. This will be good for tomorrow's race.

"Naturally this is a new track for all of us, so it's normal we'll probably closer, but I start from pole, so we did a good job."