Dani Pedrosa will start the Malaysian Grand Prix from the front row of the grid, alongside title rivals Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. And the Honda rider has high hopes for the penultimate race of the season at the Sepang International Circuit.
Pedrosa thought that he could have been quicker than the time of 2minutes 1.254seconds he posted in qualifying after setting the pace earlier during Saturday morning’s free practice session.
The 24-year-old Spaniard reflected after denying Australia's Casey Stoner a front-row spot: “I made a couple of mistakes and then I had some traffic which caused me to lose a little bit of the concentration you need to go at maximum pace at this moment.
“Anyway, I’m happy to be on the front row again. It will be a very tough race, very demanding for sure, but we always look for the win and we will give all we have to make it happen. I'm very motivated for this race.”
Rossi has put himself firmly on course to seal his seventh premier class championship in Sepang this weekend after breaking his own pole record as he roared around the track in a blistering time of 2:00:518.
The Italian, who goes into the penultimate race of the season 38 points clear at the top of the World Championship standings, was 0.569 seconds faster than team-mate Lorenzo with Pedrosa a further 0.167 seconds off the pace.
'I’m happy to be on the front row again. It will be a very tough race' - Dani Pedrosa
Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrew Dovizioso knows that he will need a good start at Sepang if he is to repeat his podium finish from last year’s race.
Dovizioso said after posting the 11th fastest time: “It’s not the qualifying result we wanted and tomorrow is going to be tough, but we’ll focus on getting off the line quickly and see what we can do in the race.”
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