Valencia MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa says record pole was absolute maximum

With just two minutes to run the Spaniard dropped into the 1m30s bracket, shattering Valentino Rossi's benchmark from 2006.

In the process he also crushed any hopes either Honda team-mate Casey Stoner or long-time title rival Jorge Lorenzo had of finishing the season with a final qualifying flourish.

Pedrosa said he was delighted not only with the performance but also with breaking what had been one of MotoGP's longest-standing pole records.

"It was a good laptime, a very good lap," Pedrosa said.

"Obviously I knew the front row was tight with Casey and Jorge, so I was really pushing.

"I put all my effort into that one lap.

"It was a long time since the last record [at Valencia], and at most other tracks there have been improvements but here it was 2006, [so to beat it] is great."

While Pedrosa admitted starting from pole could be a crucial advantage for Sunday's race, he warned that a potential return of the rain that marred practice could be most decisive.

"It's always good to finish the last qualifying on pole, but we could have rain tomorrow," he said.

"For the race, a lot depends on the weather.

"We just have to take the knowledge and experience from yesterday and hope for a good race tomorrow."