Gibernau beats weather for Brno pole.

The tempestuous Czech weather continued to torment the MotoGP field this afternoon at Brno, with rain returning just before the final qualifying session began - and playing into the hands of rain master Sete Gibernau.

With rain having affected both yesterday's sessions, Saturday then dawned dry - allowing lap times to tumble in final free practice - but by the time final qualifying began the weather had worsened once again, producing tricky track conditions similar to those experienced 24-hours earlier.

However, the conditions still allowed improvements to be made, and with half the session gone Alex Barros (5th to 4th), Colin Edwards (11th to 6th) and Jeremy McWilliams (20th to 13th) had all advanced up the grid order, while then third placed Gibernau had improved in time but not position.

At that point, Repsol Honda rider Barros looked the most threatening and would break into the top two five-minutes later, demoting Ducati's Troy Bayliss and closing to within 0.364secs of provisional pole sitter Carlos Checa (who, like Bayliss, was yet to improve).

Further notable improvements then followed from Edwards (up to fourth ahead of Telefonica Honda team-mate Gibernau) and world champion Valentino Rossi, who took sixth, then fourth, with 13-minutes to go.

Checa's hopes of defending his pole position suffered a blow when he fell from his Fortuna Yamaha with just ten-minutes remaining; the Catalan managed to remount his machine only to see that countryman Gibernau had stolen pole from him by a massive 1.4secs by the time he returned to the factory Yamaha pits.

Gibernau's huge advantage would see him safely through the final five-minutes, although Barros would reduce the #15's advantage to just 0.308secs by the chequered flag. Meanwhile, a pleased Rossi will complete tomorrow's front row after finishing 0.688secs from his world championship rival after his M1 finally began to 'behave' in the wet.

Bayliss would eventually improve on his Friday time by a whole second and will start as top Ducati in fourth. Completing tomorrow's second row will be the Australian's former World Superbike rival Edwards and the non-improving Checa.

Of those most needing progress this afternoon - such as Suzuki's John Hopkins (fastest in both free practice sessions, but only 18th in Friday qualifying), Camel Honda team-mates Makoto Tamada and Max Biaggi (a provisional 24th and 16th) and Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden (15th) - results were mixed:

Hayden and Biaggi faired best and will start alongside each other - in seventh and eighth respectively - on the third row of the grid, where they will be joined by the second factory Ducati of Loris Capirossi.

By contrast, Tamada and Hopkins - like all the Bridgestone riders - again found the wet conditions a struggle and will line-up 17th and 21st respectively. The Kawasakis also suffered and were left at the back of the grid - directly behind WCM's James Ellison, making his MotoGP debut this weekend.

In the last minute of the session, Proton KR's Kurtis Roberts - who turned heads by qualifying sixth yesterday on his first visit to Brno with a MotoGP machine - joined the list of fallers, which also included Ruben Xaus, but will still start a season best 14th tomorrow, two places in front of brother Kenny.

Aprilia's Shane Byrne was absent from this afternoon's session after dislocating his wrist in a free practice highside (see separate story). The Brit is expected to miss tomorrow's race.

Meanwhile the weather is expected to continue changing, with dry conditions predicted for Sunday's tenth race of the 2004 season.

Full times to follow...

Final qualifying:

1. Gibernau
2. Barros
3. Rossi
4. Bayliss
5. Edwards
6. Checa
7. Hayden
8. Biaggi
9. Capirossi
10. Xaus
11. Melandri
12. Hodgson
13. Abe
14. Kurtis Roberts
15. McWilliams
16. Kenny Roberts
17. Tamada
18. Fabrizio
19. Byrne
20. Pitt
21. Hopkins
22. Aoki
23. Lavilla
24. Ellison
25. Nakano
26. Hofmann