Italy's Valentino Rossi edged out Spaniard Sete Gibernau to take pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix in a thrilling qualifying session yesterday.

Gibernau set a time of 1:59.247 round the classic 5.997km Assen circuit but Rossi shaved off 0.311 seconds right at the end of the hour-long session to put himself at the front of the grid for today's race.

"I'm very happy - it's great to ride on this track with qualifying tyres," Rossi told reporters. "Even with some modifications, this is one of the best tracks."

His average speed was 181.519 kmh, the fastest of the season. "I had already a good lap, but I thought I could go faster, and maybe some of the others so I waited until the end with my second qualifying tyre," Rossi added.

The 26-year-old Italian has won five of this year's six MotoGP races in an apparently relentless march to a fifth successive world title.

Gibernau was once again left feeling frustrated by his great rival. Third position, last place on the front row, was taken by Gibernau's Honda team-mate Marco Melandri.

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