Still, there was drama. Pedrosa had a harmless
get-off, from which he quickly recovered with no
ill effects. The Spaniard was in control with 16
minutes to run when he was bested by team-mate
Dovizioso, who fell victim to Stoner six minutes
later before Pedrosa took the top spot with just over four minutes remaining.
Stoner made one final run at Pedrosa with his
final soft tyre, only to lose out on his 12th
pole position by .029s. Dovizioso was another .175s back in third.
The pole was the second for Pedrosa-his first
came in the Czech Grand Prix-and the 15th in 17 races for Honda riders.
"It was a very difficult session, extremely hot;
I couldn't breathe inside the helmet. We had a
small crash in the front that I didn't expect,
but was able to go back and go faster and take my
second pole of the season," Pedrosa said.
"I thought I would be
able to improve a little more at the end and get
closer to the time I did yesterday, but I found
some traffic on my final run. Anyway, it's good
to be on pole and I hope our race pace can be
even better.
"We have to work on the setup and
make a good rear tyre choice because our rivals
are also very strong. It's going to be very
physically demanding for everybody. To have three
Repsol Honda riders on the front row is very
good, but we cannot forget the other rivals and
we must keep focused to finish the weekend in the best way," he condluded.
