MOTORCYCLING Live

- A great battle between the top three riders in this season's championship, Jorge Lorenzo left it late but reclaimed his early lead and will be on pole tomorrow. Rossi and Stoner follow on the front row.

00:00 Rossi will beat the flag but will he beat Lorenzo's time? No, just outside, he stays second and Lorenzo, who comes in with his last lap, almost betters it, under 1:42 again.

01:00 In the middle of all that with Pedrosa, Lorenzo has taken the lead again! 1:41.974, what a time to turn it on.

02:00 Pedrosa has come off his bike and he's hurt... it's his right side, he just rolled off the track and - clearly unfit - lacked the strength to hold on. He is led off the track in serious pain.

03:00 Pedrosa is 14th but this is a great piece of late riding, eighth quickest now, he jumps six spots, well done given his injury.

04:00 Elias with a great late lap to zip up to fifth. Stoner now with some new tires, some good splits and this could be the lead into the final sector... 1:42.452! Back into second, Stoner splits the Yamahas. He started slowly but is right back at the front of this race.

06:00 Edwards comes off his bike but he walks away, annoyed more than hurt, he's fifth at the moment though so he won't be too fussed.

08:00 Lorenzo moves back into second, one tenth quicker than Stoner, but he should have challenged Rossi's 0.4s lead but again slowed into the finish.

10:00 Lorenzo has a massive go at Gibernau after he holds him up.

11:00 Stoner moves into second spot 1:42.696, Lorenzo pushed back into third. He managed to pull something out there having been fairly disappointing by his standards.

12:00 A decent lap from Hayden and it is 1:43.436, into ninth and row three for him.

14:00 Hayden is still stuck outside the top 10 as he starts his next lap...

16:00 Rossi's time of 1:42.327 looks unbeatable at present as Dovizioso comes round, he's in fifth but he hits the final bend at some pace and he moves third! Front row for Dovizioso.

17:00 Vermeulen and Di Angelis are improving, up into seventh and eighth respectively.

18:00 Lorenzo is hot on his heels though and is he going to catch him? No! He slows in the last sector and is 0.4s behind.

19:00 Rossi crosses the line and trims a quarter of a second off his own lead!

22:00 This is a great ride from Rossi, he's ahead of Lorenzo on the penultimate split and that's the lead! 1:42.58, Rossi could have stormed to pole.

26:00 De Puniet with another great ride that seems to challenge Lorenzo but again he can't close him on the final split, which is where he's untouchable at the moment.

28:00 Lorenzo leads from Rossi, Stoner back in fifth as the leading duo challenge his championship bid.

30:00 The colourfully attired Rossi leans into the final corner and stays in second with no improvement on his best time. Vermeulen now with a 1.1s improvement to move 10th.

32:00 Canepa is taking a breather, in 18th just over 1:45.

34:00 Lorenzo STILL leads with his time of 1:42.797

36:00 Gibernau is in 10th, just ahead of Hayden with 1:44.25.

38:00 De Puniet is fourth, ahead of Stoner with a time just under 1:44, he's ekeing eveything out of his machine.

40:00 Talmacsi is the new boy on the Moto GP scene and his time of just over 1:46 reflects that. All about the experience at this stage.

42:00 Toseland just just over 1:45 and is looking very uncomfortable.

46:00 Dani Pedrosa comes into the stops and limps off his bike in some pain, an injury to his hip giving him trouble.

50:00 Lorenzo breaks 1:43 as the riders pick up speed on the hard tyres they'll likely use for the race too.

52:00 Dovizioso is in the lead now, 1:43.32.

54:00 Capirossi breaks 1:44, around half a second under. He's the fastest of the 11 or so who have set lap times.

55:00 Stoner's debut lap is 1:44.058, closer to breaking 44 but he will improve.

57:00 Lorenzo's first lap is a slowish 1:44.780

59:00 The qualifying action is underway with Lorenzo off first...

- You can watch qualifying LIVE on British Eurosport 2 (Sky 411 / Virgin Media 525); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click here to subscribe.

- Rossi's Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was second, three tenths behind Rossi. Andrea Dovizioso and Randy De Puniet were fourth and fifth for satellite Honda teams, with former world champion Nicky Hayden sixth for Ducati.

- Australian Stoner was still third quickest at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, six tenths of a second behind Rossi's best time of one minute 43.038 seconds.

- Hello and welcome to our LIVE coverage of qualifying at the Catalan GP. Valentino Rossi was the quickest in practice 1, which AGAIN saw Casey Stoner fall but escape unhurt, while Jorge Lorenzo was quickest in practice 2, with Rossi third and Stoner seventh.