Max Biaggi will start the Cinzano British Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday after holding on to his provisional slot throughout a rain affected final qualifying session at a drizzly Donington Park this afternoon.

With the track still damp from a shower, only Norick Abe, Tohru Ukawa and Shinya Nakano, who dislodged Jurgen vd Goorbergh from the front row, were able to better their previous efforts. With many of the riders spending much of the afternoon session camped in the pit lane, the rest of the grid remains unchanged - meaning Championship leader Valentino Rossi will start from eleventh position.

"I am happy to be on pole, although due to the rain we haven't completed the work we had planned for the tyres," said Biaggi. "I'll have to do some experimenting in the morning warm-up before the race tomorrow and I also need to test some front fork settings. It is a satisfactory grid for me but at the end of the day it can mean nothing when the race gets underway and somebody far down the list can often make their way into the podium positions or better."

"Tomorrow will be difficult, for sure," said Rossi. "All I can say is that I will try my best. This has been our worst qualifying of the year, but sometimes these things happen. Yesterday started badly - I lost 20 minutes of the first session because I had a problem with my neck. Then I had the big crash in the afternoon, which didn't help. This morning we worked hard to improve set-up but the bike is still a little unstable and it's also being quite hard on tyres. We were hoping for a dry session this afternoon but it didn't happen"

Alex Barros and Loris Capirossi hold down second and third place on the front row between Biaggi and Nakano.  Capirossi was just 0.113 seconds slower than Biaggi, is optimistic for the race. "I think we have a good set-up even though the rain didn't help," said the Italian, who finished third at Assen last week behind Biaggi and Rossi. "I'm close to Max on times and we've found some good tyres, though we'll have to confirm tyre choice in warm-up. I've won four times here, it's my favourite track, but to win again will be difficult."

Alex Barros - "Rain always changes the feel of the tarmac, even after it's dried," said the Brazilian. "The tarmac had a different quality of grip this afternoon. It was good to have the track time anyway and I believe we have an idea on what tyres to race. I think I can fight for the win."

Van Den Goorbergh on the Proton KR heads the second row,  "I am really disappointed. Today just wasn't our day," commented Van Den Goorbergh, "It was wet all session, then in the last five minutes there was a possibility to improve. I tried, but I made too many mistakes, and one other lap was spoiled by another rider. The second row is not bad, but to be knocked off the front row at the last minute by less than a tenth of a second is very irritating. Apart from that, things have been going quite well. I had a few problems this morning, but later I was going well. We have a good set-up, and if I can get a good start and not lose too many places off the line we can get a good result."

The second row also features Suzuki riders Kenny Roberts and Sete Gibernau as well as Yamaha man Olivier Jacque in that order. Further Yamaha apparatus piloted by Carlos Checa and Jose Luis Cardoso completes a top ten which includes just two Honda machines for the first time since the Brazilian Grand Prix in 1992.

British rider Chris Walker will be happy with 14th place on the grid for his home Grand Prix, whilst fellow local Leon Haslam continues to recover from a fractured wrist and broken finger and lines up in 20th position.

Repsol riders Alex Criville and Tohru Ukawa have qualified 13th and 16th respectively. 

Ukawa - "Things were a bit better than yesterday, we gained two positions and I think that the are back on track. I improved yesterday’s time by half a second in the morning already, and I expected to do the same in the afternoon. But then the rain came down, and I had to wait in the garage until the final minutes of the session before I could have a run. I think I still made a mistake, because I went out ten minutes from the end with the tyre that I’d chosen to go for my best time, and I should have waited a bit longer, because the track still wasn’t completely dry. But this season I’ve had good starts so far, therefore I hope to be in a good position once we arrive at the first corner after the long main straight. If I can do that, we’ll have to see which tactics are the best, but for the moment I only think of a good start."

Criville - "There was very little we could do under these conditions. The tarmac was wet, then it dried up, but this happened too late and we have hardly been able to put two fast laps together. This morning, my bike worked better than in yesterday’s practice, and I could improve my lap times. But it rained in the afternoon during the 125cc session, and this stopped us from improving our lap times and the grid position when it counted. We continued to work on the set-up of the bike today, we tried different heights, positions, geometries and other settings. Tomorrow’s race will be like a lottery, especially if it rains, and with my position way back on the grid, it’s obvious that the only valid strategy will be to start well and to recover."

Australia's Anthony West qualified 18th - "This is a difficult track with a lot of bumps and some very hard braking, but the V4s aren't much quicker than the V-Twin here, especially if it rains. This track is a bit slippery when it's wet, but as long as it's really wet instead of 'half-and-half' it could be a good chance for a V-Twin. Yesterday we were ripping up the tyres a fair bit, so this morning we changed the rear geometry to try and fix it. We got a bit more chatter instead. In the afternoon we went back to what we had before, which is a good base setting. We wanted to try and fine-tune it, but with the track wet there wasn't the chance to do much. Before the meeting began I rode a scooter race for the Day of Champions charity race. I was in the racers team, with (Valentino) Rossi, Leon Haslam, and Jay Vincent. You had to ride a scooter through some cones, then pick up the pieces to put in a puzzle on the wall. Vincent's technique was to just ride straight, knocking all the cones out of the way. We got thrashed by the mechanics team."
 

1. Max BIAGGI Marlboro Yamaha Team Yamaha 1'31.964
2. Loris CAPIROSSI West Honda Pons Honda 1'32.077
3. Alex BARROS West Honda Pons Honda 1'32.384
4. Shinya NAKANO Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'32.515
5. J. VD GOORBERGH Proton Team KR Proton KR3 1'32.593
6. Kenny ROBERTS Telefonica Movistar Suzuki Suzuki 1'32.866
7. Sete GIBERNAU Telefonica Movistar Suzuki Suzuki 1'32.988
8. Olivier JACQUE Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'33.059
9. Carlos CHECA Marlboro Yamaha Team Yamaha 1'33.066
10. J.L. CARDOSO Antena 3 Yamaha D'antin Yamaha 1'33.204
11. Valentino ROSSI Nastro Azzuro Honda Honda 1'33.266
12. Noriyuki HAGA Red Bull Yamaha WCM Yamaha 1'33.487
13. Alex CRIVILLE Repsol YPF Honda Team Honda 1'33.495
14. Chris WALKER Shell Advance Racing Honda 1'33.501
16. Tohru UKAWA Repsol YPF Honda Team Honda 1'33.654
17. Haruchika AOKI, Honda, 1'33.707
18. Ant WEST Dee Cee Racing Honda 1'33.752
19. Jason VINCENT Pulse 1'34.731
20. Leon HASLAM Honda 1'34.742
21. Mark WILLIS Pulse 1'35.996
22. Johan STIGEFELT Sabre 1'36.083
23. Barry VENEMAN Honda 1'36.354