Valentino Rossi grabbed his fifth straight pole position of the season for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix in front of his home crowd in Mugello.

The world champion shaved more than a second off Testuya Harada's record set in 1999 with a time of 1:51.528.

The Honda rider beat countryman Max Biaggi, of Yamaha, by over half a second with Spain's Carlos Checa, also on a Yamaha, in third.

"We have been playing catch-up all weekend to the Yamahas, but we were learning all the time and going fastest and it all came together on the last lap," said Rossi.

"I have crashed in the last two years in the 500cc race here at Mugello and so tomorrow I hope to change it."

Biaggi said: "We've been working towards the race, rather than just going for one-off times, so I know I can ride a good race tomorrow.

"It'll be a hard race, but I'm much happier with the bike now and I'm enjoying myself much more.

Italian Loris Capirossi completes the front row with Frenchman Olivier Laconi in fifth.

Rossi has won three of the season's four races with team-mate Tohru Ukawa claiming the other victory.

In the 250cc category, Italy's Franco Battaini edged out Argentine Sebastian Porto for his third pole of the year with Spain's Toni Elias in third.

Meanwhile, in the 125cc qualifying session San Marino's Manuel Poggiali took pole ahead of Spain's Daniel Pedrosa.

Results of final qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix:

MotoGP
1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda one minute 51.258 seconds
2. Max Biaggi (Ita) Yamaha 1:51.837
3. Carlos Checa (Spa) Yamaha 1:52.086
4. Loris Capirossi (Ita) Honda 1:52.107
5. Regis Laconoi (Fra) Aprilia 1:52.237
6. Olivier Jacque (Fra) Yamaha 1:52.345
7. Tohru Ukawa (Jap) Honda 1:52.434
8. Tetsuya Harada (Jap) Honda 1:52.532
9. Alex Barros (Braz) Honda 1:52.630
10. Kenny Roberts (US) Suzuki 1:52.658

250cc
1. Franco Battaini (Ita) Aprilia 1:54.344
2. Sebastian Porto (Arg) Yamaha 1:54.818
3. Toni Elias (Spa) Aprilia 1:54.838
4. Fonsi Nieto (Spa) Aprilia, 1:54.975
5. Marco Melandri (Ita) Aprilia 1:55.080
6. Roberto Locatelli (Ita) Aprilia, 1:55.095
7. Shahroi Yuzy (Mal) Yamaha, 1:55.647
8. Randy De Puniet (Fra) Aprilia 1:55.857
9. David Checa (Spa) Aprilia 1:56.068
10. Emilio Alzamora (Spa) Honda 1:56.252

125cc
1. Manuel Poggiali (SMa) Gilera 1:59.369
2. Daniel Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 1:59.409
3. Alex De Angelis (SMa) Aprilia 1:59.536
4. Steve Jenkner (Ger) Aprilia 1:59.636
5. Arnaud Vincent (Fra) Aprilia 1:59.714
6. Gino Borsoi (Ita) Aprilia 1:59.738
7. Jakub Smrz (Cze) Honda 2:00.014
8. Lucio Cecchinello (Ita) Aprilia 2:00.020
9. Simone Sanna (Ita) Aprilia 2:00.190
10. Andrea Ballerini (Ita) Honda 2:2:00.285