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Rossi has won the last two races this season

Championship leader Valentino Rossi was in ominous form as he secured his first pole position of the season at Sunday's Italian MotoGP at Mugello.

The Yamaha rider, who has won his last six races at the circuit, set a new lap record as he came home 0.167 seconds ahead of Honda's Dani Pedrosa.

Loris Capirossi was third with Casey Stoner fourth, alongside Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden on row two.

James Toseland, racing at Mugello for the first time, will start from eighth.

It was the 50th career pole position for Rossi, who has won the last two races in China and France, but incredibly it was his first in almost a year.

"I was quite worried after practice this morning as we had some problems with the settings," he said.

"But we modified the bike and that gave me a lot of feeling and speed in the corners and we arrived in good shape for qualifying.

"With Loris behind me I'm very happy to have two Italians in front (on the front row of the grid) because we are expecting a lot of fans."

Italian MotoGP qualifying result:

1 V Rossi (Ita) Fiat Yamaha 1min 48.130sec
2 D Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 1:48.297
3 L Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki 1:48.313
4 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 1:48.375
5 C Edwards (US) Yamaha 1:48.383
6 N Hayden (US) Honda 1:48.666
7 J Lorenzo (Spa) Fiat Yamaha 1:48.905
8 J Toseland (GB) Yamaha 1:49.025
9 S Nakano (Jpn) Honda Gresini 1:49.095
10 A de Angelis (SaM) Honda Gresini 1:49.145