Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) will ride for a 7th consecutive win at his home track from pole position. In his traditional one-off Mugello helmet - which this year carries a picture of his face on top of it - Rossi stamped his authority on qualifying with a new circuit record of 1:48.130. This was his first pole with Bridgestone and the 50th of his career. Rossi is joined on the front by Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and fellow Italian Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki). Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3) put in another good qualifying perfomance and is in the middle of the second row - between defending champion Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro) and 2006 champion Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda).

Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha - Pole
This is a great, great qualifying because it's been a long wait to be on pole position again, almost one year exactly! Now for sure we will try to win tomorrow. To be honest I was quite worried after practice this morning because we had a few problems with the set-up and I couldn't find my rhythm, but I want to say thank you to all my team because they made a great job during lunch, we did some important modifications and then this afternoon I had the feeling and the speed that I wanted. We're now fast on race tyres but we still need to make our final decision about which tyre to use and we will do this when we see the conditions tomorrow. It's great to make my first pole with Bridgestone and I think 48.1 is a very fast time and it shows how good their qualifying tyres are now.

It's good as well to have two Italians on the front row and now I hope we have a lot of people here tomorrow and that we can make a big party once again! I have to be honest about my helmet, it was Aldo Drudi's idea this time but I think it's one of the best ever! It's not a drawing, it's a real picture of my face at the braking at the end of the straight here and I think it's very funny!

Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda - 2nd
Conditions weren't so good this morning, the track was dirty after all the rain, so it wasn't easy to work on set-up. This afternoon the track was completely dry and better, so we were more focused in our work. We still need to improve, so the warm-up session will be very important. We still haven't decided which tyres to run, and this choice will crucial because the race is long and there are a lot corners that require an aggressive riding style, so we need to look for a good compromise. Starting from the front row is very important here, so I'm happy to be there. Tomorrow it will be a tough race with many competitive riders.

Loris Capirossi - Rizla Suzuki - 3rd
It is a really good day for me! We have worked really hard right from first thing this morning and the team made a very clever and good job because they changed a lot of settings today - the bike was much better! Also we got a good rhythm with the race tyre and that was important for us as we didn't get a lot of time to get the set-up right - Stuart and the guys have done a great job today! I was a bit lucky on qualifying because I followed Valentino and he made an amazing time and I risked a lot on that lap to keep with him. I am happy to be on the front row and tomorrow is the first time this year we have had a good opportunity to fight for the podium, but I won't be going out for just that. I will be going for the win!

Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - 4th
In the afternoon we tried some new settings at the start of the session but they really weren't working so we decided to go back to what we'd found in the morning, when the bike felt smooth, and immediately the feeling with the chassis came back. We refined it a little more and just before we put the qualifying tyre in I felt really comfortable with the race set-up. I only got two laps in with that set-up on a race tyre but that was enough to make me feel confident about it and we know the tyre has longevity because it's the same tyre a lot of other riders have been using and we already put race distance on the same compound and construction. We put the qualifying tyre in and I honestly think I could have put in a strong challenge for pole position but I got held up by some slower riders, even though they were also on qualifiers. I feel frustrated about that but the grid position is still good for the race and I'm determined to bring home a good result for everybody at Ducati in their home race.

Colin Edwards - Yamaha Tech 3 - 5th
Missing the front row like that is a bit of a shame but I've got to be happy. It would have been nice to get on the front row but I still feel like I can be up with the guys tomorrow. I put my first qualifier in early just in case it rained and I did a 48.7 and told my team we can do a 47. You are talking about finding another seven tenths but I'd made a few little mistakes. I thought we could do it but just missed out at the end. Hats off to my team and Yamaha because I'm feeling good as far as race set-up goes and I think we have got the right tyre from Michelin. Tyres are going to be more critical than ever and I think we've got to be a bit cautious in the beginning. We'll have to stay with the guys but I don't think we can go too crazy with the tyres. We've got to do 23 laps and none of us have had chance to endurance test tyres so that just adds to the intrigue. Michelin have been doing a great job so I'm confident. I have never in my entire life been this happy at this track though. To have confidence is one thing, but then to come to a track that you have never done any good on and do well, that just amplifies the confidence feeling. You realise the tyres and the bike are working like a dream because every year I've been to this track I've had chatter, and now I don't have chatter and the bike works unbelievably. Hopefully I can get away with the guys tomorrow because with that slipstream on the straight you can hang in there. I feel really happy with my gearing off the last corner and that is the most important corner on the whole track, because if you lose that slipstream its tough to get back in the group unless they start holding each other up.

Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda - 6th
We've basically only had one completely dry session all weekend - so we've tried out a lot of tyres: rains, intermediates and qualifiers and just a couple of race tyres. So that's certainly a big issue for tomorrow, we don't know a lot about what race tyres to run, so we'll definitely let Michelin help us a little there. We made a bit of progress this afternoon and ended up on the second row. I'm not going to fool myself though, it's certainly going to be a hard one tomorrow, some guys going really quick. It'd be nice to improve in warm-up, we've got some work to do to try and get closer to the front. Then we'll just try to get a start and go for it.

Jorge Lorenzo - Fiat Yamaha - 7th
Of course I'm not happy with seventh because I always want to be at the front, it's my worst position so far with Yamaha in MotoGP and I'm especially disappointed because I really like this track and I love the Italian fans, but now we just have to look forward to a good race! I still lack some power in my ankles but honestly I can't blame my injuries this time, today it was a case of lacking time to find the right dry set-up and of me not riding as well as I might have done. We need to work on the front especially because at the moment we are wheelying too much and we don't have enough stability in the bumpy areas, but I have confidence in my team and in Yamaha and I know we will be able to improve for tomorrow. Anyway, we know our bike is working well here because Valentino is on pole! Tomorrow morning we will decide on the race tyre, together with Michelin, and then I will try to get a good start and pass as many people as possible.

James Toseland - Yamaha Tech 3 - 8th
To finish less than a second off pole when you consider all the time we have lost due to the weather is a great result for me. I'm relieved to be honest because when it started dry this morning, the dry set-up we had was quite a long way off. It was really hard to ride with that setting and we have changed the bike a lot and gone to a set-up close to what Colin is running. The bike feels a bit more stable now. I think for a tighter track the set-up I had wasn't going to be too bad. But on a fast and flowing track like this it was a little bit nervous so we just changed the front a bit. Now we haven't got a bad set-up, but I have only had 10 laps on a decent set-up. With the set-up and lack of knowledge of the track, to be a less than a second is not bad. Fair play to my team because we did a lot of work and fortunately for me the new set-up is a good direction to go in. This afternoon I only really had 30 minutes to work on the race set-up because you spend 30 minutes on the qualifiers. I made some mistakes because on all these new tracks, with the qualifiers you need to be so precise and I haven't quite mastered exactly where you need to be on the track with them. I'm still not getting the best out of the qualifiers. It is such a long lap and I kept coming out of a couple of corners going slightly wide and then you can forget about the lap time because a small mistake costs you corner speed at the next turn. I just suffer a bit of a lack of track knowledge but the bike and the tyres are working great. I just need to get a good start because the slipstream here can really help you get a good result.

Shinya Nakano - Gresini Honda - 9th
I'm satisfied with the way it's gone today - not so much for the result itself but because of the progress it shows we are making on qualifying tyres. It was very important for us to improve in this area because we have suffered a lot during the opening few rounds. Today, though, I felt a notable improvement with rear grip and that's positive also for the future. According to the weather forecast it's going to be even hotter tomorrow so it will be important to judge the race conditions well. In any case I'm confident because other than the crash yesterday it's been a positive weekend so far.

Alex De Angelis - Gresini Honda - 10th
Today went really well - tenth place is our best grid position since the start of the season - although we know there is still plenty of work to do on the qualifying tyre. Aside from that I was really pleased with the 1:50.6 I did on race tyres, completely on my own and without a slipstream. That bodes well for the race tomorrow. In the warm-up we'll try to refine a few small details and try out a couple of things we haven't had chance to look at already because of the limited dry time during practice.

Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki - 11th
Today was a lot better condition wise, but like everyone else we were a day behind. So with just today to get the set-up right we had a lot of work to do to get the bike to its best possible character and to choose the tyres for the race. With the track being hot today we went with quite hard Bridgestone race tyres and I felt my race-pace was quicker than last year and I was up with the front group without having to push too much. On the qualifiers it's such a long lap and a difficult circuit that you really need to get a very clean lap for a good time, and unfortunately I didn't make one - or if it seemed like I was going to I got held up by slower riders. We're only a couple of tenths-of-a-second off being a row further up, but our race pace is strong and a with a good start tomorrow I'm sure we are capable of running in the top-five!

Andrea Dovizioso - JiR Scot Honda - 13th
What I know looking at the qualifying times is that Valentino has been incredible! He not only broke the lap record, but clearly has a pace for the race which I think nobody else can match. We are not perfectly set up for the race yet, and when I think of the two different configurations for both race and qualifying I can say that our pace for the race is going to be a little far from the leaders. For this we will need to find solutions in the technical meeting we will have later. We will work hard in the warm-up tomorrow, but I'm not so sure we can totally change our current situation. In qualifying, I'm still struggling to use at the maximum the front tyre, as I cannot maintain the same lines I do with a race tyre. I also have to change my braking and corner entry points and obviously I also have to alter my corner speed. What I'm looking for in general is better stability from the bike and I will have to do the maximum tomorrow in front of my fans as many of them are here and I want to put on a good show for each and every one of them.

John Hopkins - Kawasaki Racing - 14th
Today has felt like an uphill struggle for us. We had a few problems transitioning to a dry set-up in this morning's practice session, after the two wet sessions yesterday. But we persisted on refining the set-up, as well as working closely with Bridgestone to find a suitable tyre combination for the race. In qualifying it just didn't come together for us, which has left us with a less than ideal grid position. It's going to be incredibly important to get a good start in the race if I'm to claw back some points tomorrow.

Tadayuki Okada - Repsol Honda - 15th
This morning we had an electrical problem which was caused by yesterday's crash. We couldn't fix it quickly, so this afternoon was my only chance to ride in the dry. We still have to work on set-up for this track. With more time to improve suspension set-up, traction and gearing I think we could improve top speed by at least 5km/h. Tyre choice is another big issue because I've only tested one race tyre, so it will be difficult to choose.

Toni Elias - Alice Ducati - 16th
It isn't surely an easy situation and we can't hide it. Me, my Team, Ducati and Bridgestone are doing all we can to be able to fight for better positions. This afternoon things went slightly better and we are trustful to be in the conditions to fight for the top ten in tomorrow's race. This is a really nice track where motivations can give you an extra push. I feel good and I am determinate: I also want to have some fun tomorrow.

Sylvain Guintoli - Alice Ducati - 17th
This morning we went quite well and we are really trustful for tomorrow's race. In the afternoon we have tried various solution to try to improve even more, but we didn't manage to make big step forward. A small technical problem has also limited our work during qualifying session. My race rhythm is really close to my fastest lap time conquered with qualifying tyres and this give me good hopes for the race. Tomorrow I want and I can obtain the best result of the season so far.

Marco Melandri - Ducati Xerox - 18th
We've had four really tough sessions here and we've completely changed the configuration of the bike in each of them without finding the correct solution. We got more and more confused and unfortunately the feeling with the bike just got worse. The feeling with the rear is vague and the tyre doesn't reach optimum temperature. We'll have to see tomorrow but we somehow need to get more weight on the rear so that I can get a feel for the tyre on the way into the corner, which is where I'm having most of my problems.

Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing - 19th
Yesterday felt good in the dry and to end up at the back of the grid after today's qualifying is very frustrating. We have been trying many different ideas to improve the rear-traction of the machine, as I have been struggling to get out of the corners at previous rounds. This track is particularly tricky, especially the downhill, off-camber sections, but today we found ourselves with no front-end feeling and I just couldn't push the bike into the turns. I did manage to improve my lap time on each qualifying run, and our race set-up isn't so far off, I just hope we can gain a solid result tomorrow.

2008 Italian MotoGP Qualifying Times
 1. Rossi       Yamaha    B  1:48.130
 2. Pedrosa     Honda     M  1:48.297
 3. Capirossi   Suzuki    B  1:48.313
 4. Stoner      Ducati    B  1:48.375
 5. Edwards     Yamaha    M  1:48.383
 6. Hayden      Honda     M  1:48.666
 7. Lorenzo     Yamaha    M  1:48.905
 8. Toseland    Yamaha    M  1:49.025
 9. Nakano      Honda     B  1:49.095
10. de Angelis  Honda     B  1:49.145
11. Vermeulen   Suzuki    B  1:49.220
12. de Puniet   Honda     M  1:49.246
13. Dovizioso   Honda     M  1:49.435
14. Hopkins     Kawasaki  B  1:49.601
15. Okada       Honda     M  1:49.829
16. Toni Elias  Ducati    B  1:49.851
17. Guintoli    Ducati    B  1:50.275
18. Melandri    Ducati    B  1:50.465
19. West        Kawasaki  B  1:50.889