Malaysian MotoGP Live on BBC Interactive Sunday, 0745 BST

Grid places were decided by Friday's practice times, with the champion's time of two minutes 0.605 seconds putting him ahead of Nicky Hayden.

Ducati's Loris Capirossi is third and Dani Pedrosa has been cleared to compete despite a heavy fall on Friday.

With five races left, Hayden leads Pedrosa by 25 points in the MotoGP championship, with Rossi in third.

Rossi admitted it was an odd situation, but he was happy to make the most of his luck.

"It's certainly strange, I think it's the first time we didn't do qualifying," he said.

"But it's the right decision. The conditions were too dangerous with some parts of the track dry and some like rivers.

Friday's Moto GP practice/qualifying results:

1 V Rossi (It) Yamaha 2:00.605
2 N Hayden (US) Honda 2:01.043
3 L Capirossi (It) Ducati 2:01.167
4 K Roberts Jr (US) Team Roberts 2:01.898
5 D Pedrosa (Sp) Ducati 2:02.102
6 S Gibernau (Sp) Ducati 2:02.181
7 R de Puniet (Fr) Kawasaki 2:02.313
8 J Hopkins (US) Suzuki 2:02.453
9 M Melandri (It) Honda 2:02.560
10 C Stoner (Aus) Honda 2:02.790

250 cc qualifying results:

1 H Barbera (Sp) Aprilia 2:08.266
2 J Lorenzo (Sp) Aprilia 2.08.404
3 H Oayama (Jpn) KTM 2:08.566

125 cc qualifying results: