Valencia MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo refusing to take title for granted

The title protagonists had contrasting fortunes in Saturday's qualifying session, with Lorenzo taking a dominant pole position while Rossi - who was guaranteed a back-of-the-grid start due to his penalty from Sepang - was only 12th quickest even before crashing on his last lap.

Although Lorenzo is still seven points behind Rossi in the standings, if the Spaniard wins the race his rival needs to come through from 26th to second to win the championship.

But when asked if he thought Rossi had any chance at all, Lorenzo said he believed the title race was still open.

"If tomorrow for some reason I cannot finish the race, Valentino is the champion," said Lorenzo.

"In a motorcycle race, anything can happen - especially in MotoGP.

"For me, it's not so simple. I have to finish first or second to be more or less sure I can win the championship.

"For Valentino it will be difficult to arrive second, but not impossible."

Marc Marquez, who qualified second, agreed that Rossi was still going to be in contention.

"In some Grands Prix Valentino started 10th and in a few laps he was with the leaders," said Marquez.

"He will be there."

Lorenzo produced the fastest ever MotoGP lap of Valencia - a 1m30.011s - as he beat Marquez's Honda to pole.

"The lap today would be very, very difficult to repeat," he admitted, "even if I tried many times.

"I was perfect in this lap. The rear tyre was working very well and I rode as well as possible in all the corners.

"The goal was the front row, I didn't expect to make the pole position.

"When I saw that 1m30.4s laptime from Marc, I expected to get close - 1m30.5s or 1m30.6s. But sometimes the laptime on the dashboard surprises you.

"It's important to avoid trouble in the first laps, because the tension is very high.

"This tension can make you weaker or make you stronger. Luckily it was the second option today."

He added that he was not certain if he wanted Yamaha to keep him informed of Rossi's progress via his pitboard during the finale.

"From the middle of the race I think this information could be good to know," said Lorenzo.

"But I think the best plan is to be as fast as possible and finish as far in front as possible.

"I think it's a good thing not to have too much in your mind."

Lorenzo admitted that he was unlikely to sleep well tonight despite having taken the early initiative with pole.

"Maybe I will need some little pill to help me," he joked. "Last night I woke up very early for me."