Method for finding the angular acceleration of a drive shaft of an internal combustion engine by means of a gear wheel integral with said drive shaft; the method making provision to identify, in each complete revolution of the drive shaft, a number of angular measurement lines, to measure the time used by the drive shaft to pass over each angular measurement line using the signal supplied by the gear wheel, to add algebraically, to the time used by the drive shaft to pass over each angular measurement line, a corresponding correction coefficient that takes account of any asymmetries in the gear wheel, and to determine the value of angular acceleration of the drive shaft as a function of the time used by the drive shaft to pass over each angular measurement line; the value of the correction coefficients is determined in the course of an engine fuel cut-off phase.