Catalan MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa races to record lap to claim pole

Dani Pedrosa: Raced to a record lap to claim pole position at Montmelo

The 27-year-old, who hails from Sabadell, barely a half hour's drive from the track, raced to a record time of 1min 40.893 secs, more than half a second ahead of Britain's Cal Crutchlow in second and defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo in third.

Pedrosa set the record time midway through Saturday's second qualifying session, beating the previous best of 1min 41.186 secs set by former world champion Casey Stoner of Australia in 2008.

"It's a difficult circuit, above all when it is so hot," he said in an interview afterwards with Spanish television broadcaster Cuatro.

"We got a good lap in but even more pleasing is that we have improved in terms of rhythm and that is the most important factor here. I am happy to have set the record in front of all my fans."

Pedrosa was never threatened by the chasing pack although there was a lot of late movement in the dying seconds of the session.

A fine ride by Honda Gresini's Alvaro Bautista had moved him surprisingly into third place ahead of Lorenzo with less than a minute of qualifying to go.

Clutch problem

However, after having to change bikes due to a clutch problem early on in the session, Lorenzo responded with his final lap to briefly move into second with a time of 1min 41.566 secs.

Crutchlow, though, also posted his best time of the afternoon right at the end of the session to leapfrog Lorenzo and ensure he will split the Spanish championship rivals on the front row of the grid.

But there was disappointment for one of the other title contenders, 20-year-old Marc Marquez, as after being fastest in Saturday morning's practice session he could only manage sixth behind American Nicky Hayden.

Six-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi's frustrating campaign continued as, after setting the pace in Friday's practice sessions, he qualified over a second down on Pedrosa's time and will start in seventh.

After five races, Pedrosa tops the standings on 103 points, with Lorenzo second on 91 and Marquez third on 77.