Gibernau is seeking his third straight victory in Italy

The Spanish Honda driver leads the MotoGP world championship and surged ahead of his rivals with a fastest lap of one minute 49.553 seconds.

Defending champion Valentino Rossi was 0.408 seconds behind on home soil just ahead of rival Max Biaggi.

Burnley's Neil Hodgson was the top Briton despite riding with broken ribs as he clocked the 17th fastest time.

Northern Ireland's Jeremy McWilliams was 18th with Aprilia team-mate Shane Byrne, from London, a place further back.

Gibernau's blistering time also broke Tohru Ukawa's Mugello lap record by three seconds.

First qualifying times:

1 Sete Gibernau (Sp) Honda 1:49.553
2 Valentino Rossi (It) Yamaha 1:49.961
3 Max Biaggi (It) Honda 1:50.777
4 Marco Melandri (It) Yamaha 1:50.845
5 Carlos Checa (Sp) Yamaha 1:50.954
6 Alex Barros (Br) Honda 1:51.008
7 Nicky Hayden (US) Honda 1:51.183
8 Makoto Tamada (Jpn) Honda 1:51.185
9 Kenny Roberts (US) Suzuki 1:51.547
10 Loris Capirossi (It) Ducati 1:51.560
11 Colin Edwards (US) Honda 1:51.758
12 Shinya Nakano (Jpn) Kawasaki 1:51.827
13 Alex Hofmann (Ger) Kawasaki 1:52.019
14 Norick Abe (Jpn) Yamaha 1:52.231
15 Ruben Xaus (Sp) Ducati 1:52.494
16 Troy Bayliss (Aus) Ducati 1:53.090
17 Neil Hodgson (GB) Ducati 1:53.372
18 Jeremy McWilliams (GB) Aprilia 1:53.428
19 Shane Byrne (GB) Aprilia 1:53.486
20 Nobuatsu Aoki (Jpn) Proton KR 1:54.568
21. Kurtis Roberts (US) Proton KR 1:54.740
22. Michel Fabrizio (It) Harris WCM 1:55.611
23. Andrew Pitt (Aus) Moriwaki 1:55.717
Not qualified: Chris Burns (GB) Harris WCM