If Valentino Rossi ever doubted leaving Honda for Yamaha, such thoughts well and truly evaporated under the South African sun at Welkom⛄ today, as the Italian took a l♒andmark pole position for the season-opening Africa's Grand Prix.

"T🀅hat was a fantastic lap, I'm really happy - it's like getting ten 'normal' pole positions!" beamed Rossi, who held off former Honda colleague Sete Gibernau by just 0.035secs. "We've done something that nobody expected in a really short time, in just a matter of months.

"I gave 100 percent and I think this is a great moment for the sport and especially for everyone at Yamaha," he added.🀅 "This is probably one of the greatest moments of my career so far - but now we 𒉰need to win a race."

"I'm not too surprised," claimed crew chief Jerry Burgess. "I knew we'd worked really hard, that everyone at Yamaha had worked very hard, and Valentino of course, and I expecte🏅d we'd be near the front.

"However t𝔍hese are early days, this is one race of sixteen and this is our first po💜le position. But as a team it's great to be in this position today and now we have to turn that into something positive tomorrow."

In terms of performance, Rossi has been literally perfect so far this weekend - leading every one of the four sessions to deliver continuous confidence-shaking blows to his Honda led rivals. However, the #46 knows race day may prove a different challಌenge.

"Tomorrow is going to be very difficult, I don't know how the bike will perform on race tyres and we still have more work to do," he warned. "We're not going to change anything on thꦐe bike. Anyway let's see for tomorrow and hoജpefully I'll sleep OK tonight!"

Joining Rossi and Gibernau on the now three-rider front row w🦋ill be Camel Honda's Max Biaggi - and with the top eleven riders all qualifying within one-second of Rossi it looks like MotoGP fans can expect a great race tomorrow.꧃..