Checa has benefitted from recent tests made after the race in Brno and the new chassis tested there, and after the session he beamed, "We lost our way a little bit over the last two races but the team have done a great job here. We lost time because of the rain and had 20 minutes at the end for a fast lap. I went out in the wet and it was almost like Formula 1 qualifying, with a short time to do a fast lap, but I concentrated to the maximum, focused on the perfect possible lap with the tyre and I got two good laps without any mistakes."

It took forty-two minutes for any rider to better their Friday time, but once McWilliams had broken the mould it still took the rest a while to lower their best laps, and some were simply unable to do so during the hour. Checa took top spot with just over five minutes remaining on the clock, and went even quicker on his last lap. He came under pressure from Team Gresini's Daijiro Kato at the end, but managed to hang on as he set a new pole position record of 1'39.793. Kato will begin the race from second place for the second race in a row, while Valentino Rossi once again will begin behind his Honda colleague in third. Overnight pole holder Alex Barros did not even leave the pits until there were just 25 minutes remaining, and then was unable to improve on yesterday's time, but he managed to cling on to a front row spot in fourth on the Pons Honda.

Race winner last time out, Max Biaggi will head the second row of the grid while Jeremy McWilliams continues impressing on the Proton KR machine, qualifying in sixth place, and will hope that the long straight here does not disadvantage the lightweight bike over race distance. Loris Capirossi took seventh place on the other Honda Pons machine in front of Tohru Ukawa who will hope to get a good start to be up amongst the front runners. Row three sees Gibernau, Vd Goorbergh, Aoki and Roberts grouped together, with Abe, Laconi, Hopkins and McCoy just behind them. The first nineteen of the twenty riders qualified within 1.742 seconds of the pole time.

The 250 class saw another milestone accomplished by Argentina's Sebastian Porto, who had made his first two podium appearances in the last two races. This time the Yamaha rider took his first career pole as he proves his worth on board the Japanese machine. Porto currently lies in fifth in the championship and will hope that he can pick up more valuable points tomorrow. Marco Melandri will begin the race from second position tomorrow, ahead of his championship rival Fonsi Nieto. The pair hold the top two slots in the title standings, and the race could prove crucial as Nieto aims to close the 37-point gap to the Italian. Roberto Rolfo finished off the front row, with Battaini, Elias, Alzamora and Matsudo making up row two.

Australia's Casey Stoner had to settle for 13th on the grid.

Dani Pedrosa made the most of a rain burst a couple of minutes from the end of the 125 session. The young Spaniard claimed pole position when he set his best time with eight minutes remaining on the clock, whilst his rivals were holding their best laps for the final moments when the shower came down. Eventually, neither Manuel Poggiali nor Youichi Ui were able to improve on yesterday's times, but they still hold on to front row positions in second and third respectively. Steve Jenkner completed the front row, as Kallio, Sanna, Giansanti and Cecchinello filled the positions from fifth to eighth.

1. Checa 1m39.793
2. Kato 1m39.868
3. Rossi 1m39.984
4. Barros 1m40.112
5. Biaggi 1m40.147
6. McWilliams 1m40.308
7. Capirossi 1m40.315
8. Ukawa 1m40.509
9. Gibernau 1m40.747
10. Goorbergh 1m40.771
11. Aoki 1m40.814
12. Roberts 1m40.965
13. Abe 1m40.969
14. Laconi 1m41.032
15. Hopkins 1m41.092
16. McCoy 1m41.169
17. Nakano 1m41.231
18. Harada 1m41.463
19. Jacque 1m41.535
20. Riba 1m43.782