Rossi beats Movistars for Donington pole.

Valentino Rossi delivered a stunning new lap record around the Donington Park circuit to hold off the double challenge of Movistar Honda team-mates Sete Gibernau and Marco Melandri during today's qualifying session for the British Grand Prix.

Gauloises Yamaha had dominated proceedings heading into qualifying, with Colin Edwards fastest on Friday - just ahead of team-mate Rossi - before those positions were reversed on Saturday morning, when the world champion became the first man to break the 1min 29secs mark so far this weekend.

Into the qualifying hour and, with the overcast skies still threatening to produce rain, it was suspected that some teams may throw in a qualifying tyre early on.

But before any soft rubber could catch the attention, Shane Byrne suffered a bizarre incident in the opening minutes - the rear suspension on his Proton KR appearing to totally collapse as he exited the last turn, forcing Shakey to raise his feet off the footpegs to avoid dragging them on the ground.

The Brit would bring his bike under control without too much problem, but was then seen limping back to the pits after knocking his leg during the incident.

Meanwhile, Rossi's 1min 28.990secs morning time would be approached as early as the opening ten-minutes, when Alex Barros put his Camel Honda into the 1min 29.1secs to lead Edwards, Bayliss, Rossi and Hopkins.

Max Biaggi would then take a turn at the top, but with 15-minutes gone countryman Rossi broke new ground with another best lap of the weekend; the six-times world champion setting a 1min 28.919secs on his ninth lap, while another Italian - Marco Melandri - would become the first rider to join the #46 in the 1min 28s as he lapped just 0.066secs slower.

By the halfway mark the order remained Rossi, Melandri, Biaggi and Barros at the front, while Edwards, Bayliss, Hayden, Hopkins, Capirossi and Gibernau completed a close top ten - Sete being just 0.8secs from Rossi's provisional pole.

As the final 15-minutes approached that order remained, indicating that all the teams had held their nerve and - with the weather co-operating - avoided the early use of qualifying tyres, setting the session up for a frantic finale.

The first of the frontrunners to play the qualifying tyre card looked to be Gibernau, who leapt into provisional pole with 13-minutes to go by lapping just 0.002secs faster than Rossi's earlier best, while Edwards advanced to third - a mere 0.032secs from pole!

Then, while the likes of Gibernau and Edwards pitted for another rear tyre, Barros began to boil - the Estoril winner running at pole pace until catching a WCM at the Melbourne loop, forcing the frustrated Brazilian to scrap the lap.

Having no such problems was Rossi, who bit a sizable 0.3secs chunk out of Gibernau's provisional pole to return to the top with 8-minutes remaining - but Melandri closed him down seconds later by putting his blue Honda just 0.031secs from The Doctor.

Marco then converted that momentum into a second flying lap - and would snatch provisional pole by 0.119secs on his 26th lap of the session. Rossi responded as the final five minutes began, the runaway world championship leader stunning the paddock with the first lap in the 1min 27secs bracket as he stole a huge 0.585secs lead over the field. Could anyone match that?

Hayden did his best - and would take second, albeit 0.518secs from Rossi - while Valentino obviously felt he could still be beaten, as he pitted for a final tyre change and left the pitlane with less than two-minutes to go.

It proved a wise move as Melandri cut his advantage to a doable 0.398secs on his final lap, before being pushed to the outside of the front row as his team-mate Gibernau appeared from nowhere to snatch second at the conclusion of his own session. Gibernau had lapped 0.285secs from Rossi to demote Barros, who had momentarily taken third, to a second row start.

But despite such late pressure, Rossi would end the day as the only rider in the 1min 27secs, and will thus aim to continue his excellent Donington Park record by winning his ninth race of the season from pole tomorrow. However, although the weather held out today, rain is again expected on Sunday - and some are even predicting the first ever 'bike swap' should showers fall during the race...

Meanwhile, Barros will be joined on row two of the grid by Americans Hayden and Edwards, Colin having arguably been the main loser this afternoon as he slipped down to a weekend low of sixth.

Troy Bayliss, Max Biaggi and Makoto Tamada will complete an all-Honda row three, while John Hopkins put his Suzuki tenth to head an all-Bridgestone row four that also includes Ducati's Loris Capirossi and Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano.

Full times to follow...

Qualifying:

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