Pedrosa: My best ever.

The Spaniard's first hot lap put him in third position, but an all-or-nothing second flyer saw him go a full second faster and ultimately claim his second pole in a row by 0.218s ahead of Valentino Rossi, with world champion Casey Stoner third.

"I'm happy to get pole position again and it was a good lap for sure - my best ever lap time at this track so I'm happy," smiled Dani, looking for his second win of the season. "I was able to improve my speed quite a lot from the first qualifying lap to the second one and I think I got just about the maximum from Michelin's qualifying tyres, so I'm very pleased.

"For the race I really hope the weather stays stable. We were on pole position at the last race in Japan but the race-day weather didn't help us, so I hope tomorrow it's clear and we can concentrate simply on riding. We'll be looking at the conditions and temperature tomorrow to make the final choice of race tyre. My pace today on race tyres was quite consistent so hopefully we're looking okay. The top three riders in the championship are on the front row so it's set up to be a good battle. I'm looking forward to it," he added.

Team-mate Nicky Hayden looked destined for his fifth front-row start in succession, but just lost out in the final sector of the lap and will start Sunday's race from fourth on the grid, directly behind Pedrosa.

"That's by far the best session we've had this weekend. Fourth on the grid is not a disaster and if I get a good start I should be okay, though I'd have liked to be on the front row of course," said the American, yet to win in 2007. "On race tyres we definitely looked pretty competitive this afternoon so I really hope tomorrow we can have a good result - but I know hoping won't do it on its own. We've got to get back into the garage, work on the machine and keep improving. Hopefully the weather will stay clear and we can put on a good show tomorrow for these die-hard fans who've been braving the cold. I'm ready to put up a fight."