Italy's Valentino Rossi set a new lap record on the first day of qualifying for the Czech Republic Grand Prix.

The defending MotoGP world champion sped to a best lap of two minutes 00.161 seconds on his Honda.

Rossi's fellow Italian and arch-rival Max Biaggi was second fastest on a Yamaha with a time of 2:00.340.

Japan's Daijiro Kato was third on a Honda with 2:00.390.

Rossi, who has won eight of the nine races this season, is clear favorite to claim victory in Sunday's race at the 5.403-kilometre Brno circuit.

He has already won there in all classes, including the 500cc last year.

Spain's Fonsi Nieto, riding an Aprilia, posted the best time in the 250cc class.

He clocked 2:03.340, ahead of Sebastian Porto of Argentina and championship leader Marco Melandri of Italy.

Aprilla's Spanish rider Pablo Nieto had the fastest time in the 125cc class with 2:09.526.

---

Czech GP qualifying, day one:

MotoGP
1. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Honda RCV-Repsol 2min 0.161sec
2. Max Biaggi (Ita) Yamaha M1-Yamaha Team at 0.179sec
3. Daijiro Katoh (Jpn) Honda RCV-Gresini 0.229
4. Sete Gibernau (Spa) Suzuki XREO-Movistar 0.406
5. Alex Barros (Bra) Honda NSR-Pons 0.458
6. Jeremy McWilliams (Irl) Proton-Proton KR 0.563
7. Garry McCoy (Aus) Yamaha YZR-RedBull 0.807
8. Tohru Ukawa (Jpn) Honda RCV-Repsol 0.862
9. Carlos Checa (Spa) Yamaha M1-Yamaha Team 0.869
10. Loris Capirossi (Ita) Honda NSR-Pons 0.877

250cc
1. Fonsi Nieto (Spa) Aprilia 2:03.340secs
2. Sebastian Porto (Arg) Yamaha at 0.371secs
3. Marco Melandri (Ita) Aprilia 0.714
4. Toni Elias (Spa) Aprilia 1.005
5. Roberto Locatelli (Ita) Aprilia 1.009
6. Roberto Rolfo (Ita) Honda 1.017
7. Randy de Puniet (Fra) Aprilia 1.310
8. Franco Battaini (Ita) Aprilia 1.546
9. Naoki Matsudo (Jpn) Yamaha 1.855
10. Haruchika Aoki (Jpn) Honda 1.998

125cc
1. Pablo Nieto (Spa) Aprilia 2:09.526
2. Daniel Pedrosa (Spa) Honda at 0.028
3. Arnaud Vincent (Fra) Aprilia 0.226
4. Simone Sanna (Ita) Aprilia 0.325
5. Gabor Talmacsi (Hun) Honda 0.487
6. Lucio Cecchinello (Ita) Aprilia 0.511
7. Manuel Poggiali (Smr) Gilera 0.591
8. Alex de Angelis (Smr) Aprilia 0.778
9. Mirko Giansanti (Ita) Honda 0.814
10. Thomas Luthi (Swi) Honda 0.827