Rossi reminds rivals with record Jerez pole.

Valentino Rossi reminded his MotoGP rivals that he'll be the man to beat in tomorrow's season-opening Spanish Grand Prix by taking pole position to the tune of 0.496secs, after delivering a record breaking lap of the Jerez circuit this afternoon.

Double world championship runner-up Sete Gibernau had set the pace in all three practice sessions leading into the qualifying hour; the Movistar Honda rider's best lap being set in the Friday morning session, while his Saturday time was almost one-second slower - almost certainly due to strong winds which were at least a partial cause of high speed falls for the likes of Loris Capirossi and John Hopkins.

Into the new-for-2005 one and only qualifying session and, with the wind as strong as ever, it took almost 15-minutes for anyone to get close to Gibernau's morning time - and that rider was, perhaps unsurprisingly, Sete himself; the Catalan closing to within 0.4secs of his morning pace as he took an early advantage over fellow factory Honda rider Nicky Hayden, while Konica's Makoto Tamada completed an early all-RCV front row.

Gibernau's reign would last a further eight-minutes before Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano, on fire all weekend, put team green's new 'big-bang' ZX-RR on pole by the tune of 0.4secs. But Sete would soon return to the top as he chopped 0.3secs from Nakano's best, while the Japanese would lose a further position shortly after the halfway mark as Hayden returned his Repsol Honda to second.

Into the final 15-minutes and the arrival of qualifying tyres was confirmed by Marco Melandri putting his Movistar machine third - and then Hayden threw his RCV into pole by 0.226secs. A brief lull followed as many of the 21 rider field returned to the pits for a tyre change, but before they had returned Hopkins had put his Suzuki into fifth, behind Hayden, Gibernau, Melandri, Hofmann and Nakano.

Those front two rows were then shaken up by world champion Valentino Rossi who, after a modest session spent at the lower end of the top five, put his factory Yamaha into third position - and then stole pole from former team-mate Hayden by a substantial 0.321secs, on his next lap.

While Rossi made a quick final pit stop, arch-rival Gibernau was already on track and seeking a clear window from which to launch his pole attack. Sete would make his move with five-minutes to go, the Catalan getting to within 0.16secs of Rossi through the first two sectors, but then lost another tenth in the third and final sectors to at least retake second from young team-mate Melandri.

But with two-minutes remaining Rossi was riding at lap record pace, and the London based superstar would clock a stunning 1min 39.419secs circulation - beating not only Gibernau's best lap of the weekend but also Hayden's test pace from two weeks ago, as he shattered the official circuit record.

Gibernau himself would become the only rider to join Rossi in the 1min 39secs with his final lap of the day, but the Spaniard was still left 0.496secs from Rossi, while rider of the afternoon was surely team-mate Melandri - who narrowly missed out on second place but still took third to claim a front row start on his Honda GP debut.

Row two of Sunday's grid will contain three different manufacturers with Hayden, Nakano and Capirossi representing Honda, Kawasaki and Ducati respectively while Makoto Tamada - who took an unplanned trip through the gravel in the final 15-minutes - Alex Barros and Troy Bayliss will form an all RCV row three.

The second Kawasaki of Alex Hofmann will start tenth, just ahead of his Suzuki friend John Hopkins, while Carlos Checa will begin his first race for Ducati from twelfth position.

Meanwhile, main losers of the day were Colin Edwards and Max Biaggi, the respective factory Yamaha and factory Honda riders being left just 15th and 16th on the grid and needing a minor miracle to challenge for the top three tomorrow.

Full times to follow...

Qualifying:

1. Rossi
2. Gibernau
3. Melandri
4. Hayden
5. Nakano
6. Capirossi
7. Tamada
8. Barros
9. Bayliss
10. Hofmann
11. Hopkins
12. Checa
13. Elias
14. Roberts
15. Edwards
16. Biaggi
17. Xaus
18. Rolfo