Rossi fastest in qualifying practice

Factory Yamaha rider Rossi and Repsol Honda's Pedrosa were the class of the field throughout the session, which effectively served as a non-championship curtain-raiser for the new season.

Rossi received a new BMW road car for his 'pole', but his ecstatic celebrations on his slowing down lap were prompted not by this prize, but by the knowledge that he had sent a clear message to his rivals on the eve of the new season.

"It is great," said Rossi. "It is not important for the championship but it's the first battle and it means that our bike is a lot more competitive than last year.

"I had a fantastic lap in qualifying, so thank you to my bike - it was very good to ride. It was a good point to start from."

Pedrosa and Rossi swapped provisional pole three times in the first 20 minutes of the session, before Pedrosa beat last year's Jerez pole time with a 1:38.934 lap that Rossi initially seemed hard-pressed to match.

Adjustments to the Yamaha M1's set-up did the trick, however, and with seven minutes to go Rossi produced a 1:38.786 lap to retake pole.

Pedrosa's response saw the young Spaniard 0.006 seconds ahead of Rossi's time at the third split, but he fell short in the remainder of the lap.

Then on his final lap, Rossi produced a stunning 1:38.394 effort, putting the top spot beyond Pedrosa's reach. Although the Honda rider improved his time on his own final run, he remained 0.133 seconds shy of Rossi.

Colin Edwards took third on the second Yamaha, ousting reigning champion Nicky Hayden in the closing minutes.

Randy de Puniet put his Kawasaki an impressive fifth, ahead of the Ducati Marlboros and Chris Vermeulen.

There was good news for the cash-strapped Team Roberts too, as Kenny Roberts Jr. earned ninth position.

Carlos Checa completed the top ten, but Friday and Saturday testing pacesetter Marco Melandri could only manage 14th.

Official testing at Jerez resumes later this afternoon.

Qualifying practice results:

Pos  Rider        Bike          Time              Laps
 1.  Rossi        Yamaha        1:38.394           17
 2.  Pedrosa      Honda         1:38.527 + 0.133   16
 3.  Edwards      Yamaha        1:39.300 + 0.906   16
 4.  Hayden       Honda         1:39.556 + 1.162   18
 5.  De Puniet    Kawasaki      1:39.832 + 1.438   16
 6.  Stoner       Ducati        1:39.873 + 1.479   10
 7.  Capirossi    Ducati        1:39.887 + 1.493   13
 8.  Vermeulen    Suzuki        1:40.043 + 1.649   17
 9.  Roberts Jr   KR2I2V        1:40.083 + 1.689   14
10.  Checa        Honda         1:40.100 + 1.706   15
11.  Elias        Honda         1:40.202 + 1.808   14
12.  Nakano       Honda         1:40.242 + 1.848   13
13.  Tamada       Yamaha        1:40.307 + 1.913   15
14.  Melandri     Honda         1:40.396 + 2.002   15
15.  Jacque       Kawasaki      1:40.551 + 2.157   11
16.  Hofmann      Ducati        1:40.681 + 2.287   15
17.  Barros       Ducati        1:41.038 + 2.644   15
18.  Akiyoshi     Suzuki        1:41.805 + 3.411    9
19.  Guintoli     Yamaha        1:42.215 + 3.821   17
20.  Guareschi    Ducati        1:43.008 + 4.614    8
21.  Pitt         Ilmor X3      1:43.026 + 4.632   14
22.  Ito          Ducati        1:43.073 + 4.679   13
23.  McWilliams   Ilmor X3      1:43.202 + 4.808    9