Italy's Loris Capirossi will start on pole position for the season-opening Spanish MotoGP after smashing the lap record at Jerez on his Ducati in yesterday's one-off qualifying session.

The 32-year-old Italian posted a time of one minute 39.064 for the 4.4-km lap, to lead the front row of the grid ahead of Ducati team-mate Sete Gibernau and Japanese rider Shinya Nakano, who was in impressive form on the much improved Kawasaki.

World champion Valentino Rossi, bidding for a sixth consecutive title, struggled on his Yamaha. He posted only the ninth fastest time, more than a second down on Capirossi, and had to settle for a slot on the third row of the grid.

American Nicky Hayden leads the second row, ahead of fellow Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Toni Elias, while last season's championship runner-up Marco Melandri and MotoGP newcomer Randy de Puniet accompany Rossi on the third. The 20-year-old Pedrosa, who is tipped as an eventual successor to Rossi, is making his debut in the blue-riband class after winning three consecutive world titles in 125cc and 250cc.

Capirossi, who was also the fastest in pre-season testing at Jerez earlier this month, said he was delighted with the performance of the Ducati.

Oil trail halts qualifying

Qualifying was stopped after just four minutes when the engine on Alex Hofman's Ducati blew and left a trail of oil, causing Rossi and a host of other riders to slide off into the gravel on the Angel Nieto curve.

When the session restarted Capirossi set the early pace on his works Ducati with Gibernau close behind, while Pedrosa also posted some quick times in the early laps.

Shinya Nakano briefly deposed Capirossi from top spot, but the Italian responded with a series of lightning laps as he set a new pole record.

Rossi, who had vibration problems on his Yamaha in testing at Jerez, dropped down the standings to 11th and was only able to improve to ninth in the last few minutes.

The 27-year-old Italian, who was fastest in Friday's second free practice session, has won the opening grand prix for the last five seasons, going on to win the championship on each occasion.

Jorge Lorenzo leads the grid for the 250cc race on his Aprilia, with Yuki Takahashi, fellow Spaniard Hector Barbera and Shuhei Aoyama completing the front row.

In the 125cc class Italy's Mattia Pasini snatched pole position ahead of fellow Aprilia rider Alvaro Bautista late in the session, with Lukas Pesec and Julian Simon completing the front row for today's race.

Champion Thomas Luethi continued to struggle on his Honda as he recovers from a broken collar bone sustained during pre-season testing and will start in 17th place.

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