Italy's Loris Capirossi pulled off a surprise by snatching provisional pole for Sunday's Catalan motorcycling Grand Prix in the dying minutes of the first official practice session.

The Italian, riding for the Barcelona-based Sito Pons Honda team, struck a blow for the old two-stroke bikes as he knocked Japan's Tohru Ukawa off top spot with his penultimate lap on the Montmelo circuit.

Local rider Sete Gibernau also sneaked past Ukawa to post the second fastest time, while another Catalan-born rider, Carlos Checa, gave the crowd more to cheer about as he went fourth quickest to complete the provisional front row.

World champion Valentino Rossi, who has started all five of this season's races from pole position had to be content with fifth place, but the Italian will have another chance to maintain his perfect record in the final practice on Saturday.

With only 0.736 of a second covering the top 10 riders Saturday's final practice session promises to be a tightly contested affair.

Poggiali on top

The 250cc category saw an even more dramatic finish to the practice after Frenchman Randy de Puniet snatched provisional pole from Italy's Marco Melandri on the very last lap.

Roberto Rolfo of Italy and Argentine rider Sebastian Porto completed the provisional front row, while world championship leader Fonsi Nieto finished fifth fastest.

In the 125cc class world champion Manuel Poggiali clocked the fastest time of the day.

The San Marino rider pipped 16-year-old local rider Daniel Pedrosa to take the overnight pole.

Leading times from Friday's practice in Barcelona:

Moto GP:
1 Loris Capirossi (Ita) Honda 1:45.451
2 Sete Gibernau (Spa) Suzuki 1:45.532
3 Tohru Ukawa (Jpn) Honda 1:45.619
4 Carlos Checa (Spa) Yamaha 1:45.787
5 Valentino Rossi (Ita) Honda 1:45.842
6 Kenny Roberts (USA) Suzuki 1:45.923
7 Max Biaggi (Ita) Yamaha 1:45.948
8 John Hopkins (USA) Yamaha) 1:45.967
9 Regis Laconi (Fra) Aprilia 1:46.057
10 Alex Barros (Bra) Honda 1:46.187

250cc:
1 Randy de Puniet (Fra) Aprilia 1:48.359
2 Marco Melandri (Ita) Aprilia 1:48.490
3 Roberto Rolfo (Ita) Honda 1:48.521
4 Sebastian Porto (Arg) Yamaha 1:48.633
5 Fonsi Nieto (Spa) Aprilia 1:48.696
6 Toni Elias (Spa) Aprilia 1:48.723
7 Casey Stoner (Aus) Aprilia 1:48.809
8 Alex Debon (Spa) Aprilia 1:48.850
9 Roberto Locatelli (Ita) Aprilia 1:48.883
10 Emilio Alzamora (Spa) Honda 1:48.932

125cc:
1 Manuel Poggiali (Smr) Gilera 1:51.795
2 Daniel Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 1:51.859
3 Steve Jenkner (Ger) Aprilia 1:52.131
4 Alex de Angelis (Smr) Aprilia 1:52.878
5 Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) Ita 1:52.919
6 Arnaud Vincent (Fra) Aprilia 1:52.938
7 Pablo Nieto (Spa) Aprilia 1:53.063
8 Lucio Cecchinello (Ita) Aprilia 1:53.153
9 Youichi Ui (Jpn) Derbi 1:53.239
10 Mirko Giansanti (Ita) Honda 1:53.284