His Repsol Honda team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, also left his best until last this afternoon, putting a in last-gasp hot lap just 0.326s slower than Pedrosa to take fifth position. It was a highly-competitive qualifying session today with the front two rows were covered by only 0.356s. And though Dovizioso wasn’t able to repeat his timesheet-topping performance from yesterday, he was content with achieving a second-row starting position having shown consistent race pace on both Bridgestone’s soft and hard tire options.

This afternoon’s qualifying session was held in sunny conditions but, on a weekend when rain has been an ever-present threat, the MotoGP paddock knows it can’t count on a dry race when the lights go out at 14.00 local time tomorrow.

"Obviously I’m really happy with pole today and it was a very close battle for the front row. Right at the end we were able to set the fastest lap and I’m really pleased for the team as well as for myself. Being on the front row is important, and it’s also lucky that we had good weather for this afternoon and for most of the morning session because it allowed us to test a few set-up options and learn more about the machine at this track. We still have work to do before the race though, so we’re not going to relax at all. It’s a long race tomorrow and there are some improvements I’d like to make to the machine settings to give us a good chance. And of course the weather can play a big part at this circuit as we’ve seen many times before. We have to prepare for many conditions, so we’re staying focused."

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