Sete storms to home pole.

Sete Gibernau has taken pole position for his home Catalunya Grand Prix in devastating style, the world championship leader slicing a further 0.35secs from his record breaking Friday time to keep all challengers at bay.

The Telefonica Honda rider set a new lap record of 1min 42.934secs in the dying seconds of yesterday's session, putting him 0.629secs clear of nearest rival Max Biaggi, and while that gap would be reduced today it would never be fully bridged by the Catalan's competition.

Man who came closest was reigning world champion Valentino Rossi, the Yamaha star jumping from fifth to second - just 0.127secs from Gibernau - with a minute to go, then aborting a possible final lap.

Not that it mattered much; Rossi wouldn't be threatened for the runner-up position, while Gibernau underlined his superiority by lapping 0.236secs quicker on his own last lap. Expect a close Gibernau/Rossi duel tomorrow...

The pair will be joined on the front row by Nicky Hayden (+0.5secs from pole), the American leaping from tenth to third after getting a tow from Repsol Honda team-mate Alex Barros on his last lap. The Brazilian himself wasn't so fortunate and was held up by Norick Abe through the final sequence of turns. He'll start from sixth tomorrow.

Just ahead of Barros on the second row will be Biaggi, who didn't improve today and was left almost a second behind Gibernau, and Marco Melandri, who reached as high as third with seven minutes to go.

Further back, class rookie Ruben Xaus heads the third row - as top Ducati - after an excellent performance in front of his home fans, while John Hopkins also enjoyed his best session of the season so far to put Suzuki eighth.

Makoto Tamada (who like Camel Honda team-mate Biaggi didn't improve) will start ninth, one place clear of Troy Bayliss.

The Australian's factory Ducati team-mate, Loris Capirossi, had a torrid session - the 2003 event winner crashing once and running off track before qualifying fifteenth, behind the Kawasakis of Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann.

Full times to follow...

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