"I am so satisfied because this was the last chance to take pole position in 2002 and I put my Yamaha there," grinned a jovial Biaggi. "We worked well on Friday and were fast and consistent this morning. I tried a different set-up but it was not a good way for me so we changed back to tune the settings we had found on Friday. I pushed hard and got the bike working well so I am very, very happy - especially because I promised the Tissot watch to my physiotherapist Mariano!"

There were no changes to the top ten positions on the grid for the first half an hour of this afternoon's subdued final qualifying session, whilst the first notable impression on the top positions was made by Carlos Checa, who moved onto the front row in fourth place just after the half hour mark. The Spaniard was dislodged by Valentino Rossi but immediately recovered, only to crash out as the session reached its climax and Garry McCoy relegated him to fifth with a late charge. Rossi will start from sixth place and will be joined on the second row by his Honda team-mate Tohru Ukawa in seventh and Jeremy McWilliams on the Proton in eighth.

Meanwhile it has been confirmed that Sete Gibernau will ride alongside Daijiro Kato next year aboard an Honda RC211V in the Gresini Racing team. An official announcement was made today by sponsors Telefónica Movistar, who part company with Suzuki along with Gibernau to return to the team with whom they won the 250cc World Championship last year. The Spaniard qualified tenth in his final qualifying appearance on the GSV-R.

Kato's title heir Marco Melandri maintained pole position for the quarter-litre race despite failing to improve on his provisional qualifying time from yesterday. With the track conditions cooling in the setting Mediterranean sun, several riders struggled to lower their times and only Randy De Puniet could challenge the Italian, clocking the fastest lap of the day but missing out on pole by 0.094 seconds. The Frenchman will start from second place on the grid ahead of Argentinean rider Sebastian Porto in third. Emilio Alzamora qualified as the highest home rider as his provisional time proved enough to hold off compatriots Alex Debón and Fonsi Nieto for a front row spot in fourth place, whilst Italian Roby Rolfo took seventh on the grid behind the Spanish threesome and ahead of their compatriot Toni Elías.

At high noon tomorrow the season long battle for the 125cc World Championship will finally have been resolved after a 25 lap race which has no fewer than 240 possible result combinations - 81.25% of which are in favour of Arnaud Vincent. If the Frenchman finishes ahead of Manuel Poggiali he will clinch the title and can even finish behind him within eight points. The number of wins and points cannot be tied, despite Poggiali having won four compared to Vincent's five, as Vincent would win the title with second place and concede a decisive nine points with third or lower. Meanwhile teenager Daniel Pedrosa demonstrated his disregard for mathematics and the title destiny as a dominant defence of his provisional pole position today sealed front spot on the grid. After a disappointing session yesterday Poggiali pulled within one tenth of Pedrosa to qualify second ahead of Pablo Nieto, whilst Vincent also starts from the front row in fourth.
 

1. Biaggi 1m33.211
2. Barros 1m33.584
3. Kato 1m33.641
4. McCoy 1m33.794
5. Checa 1m33.815
6. Rossi 1m33.855
7. Ukawa 1m34.053
8. McWilliams 1m34.139
9. Nakano 1m34.177
10. Gibernau 1m34.242
11. Jacque 1m34.276
12. Capirossi 1m34.280
13. Laconi 1m34.480
14. Roberts 1m34.525
15. Goorbergh 1m34.536
16. Aoki 1m34.579
17. Hopkins 1m35.044
18. Pitt 1m35.107
19. Garcia 1m35.186
20. Abe 1m35.333
21. Cardoso 1m35.337
22. Harada 1m35.606