Pedrosa dominates Indy qualifying

The Spaniard, who also topped both practice sessions, never relinquished the top of the timesheets in the second half of the one-hour session, and was the only rider to break the 1m40s barrier thanks to a 1m39.730s lap with two minutes remaining.

Compatriot Jorge Lorenzo was the only one who gave Pedrosa something of a challenge, but ultimately had to settle for second with his Yamaha, a full 0.506s behind pole.

Valentino Rossi, in the other Yamaha, salvaged third in the dying seconds. The Italian held the final front row slot for most of the session but was bettered by an impressive Alex de Angelis (Gresini Honda) with 12 minutes to go. In the end, Rossi edged ahead by just 0.011s.

Americans Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) qualified fifth and sixth respectively, despite the former crashing in the final minutes of the session.

Toni Elias (Gresini Honda) and Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) also crashed during qualifying and ultimately qualified seventh and eighth, with Marco Melandri (Hayate Kawasaki) and James Toseland (Tech 3 Yamaha) completing the top ten.

Pramac Ducati's replacement Aleix Espargaro avoided finishing his first ever MotoGP qualifying session in last position by beating Scot Honda's Gabor Talmacsi.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time              Laps
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m39.730s           30
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m40.236s + 0.506s  31
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m40.609s + 0.879s  27
 4.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m40.620s + 0.890s  24
 5.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m40.961s + 1.231s  21
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m41.067s + 1.337s  29
 7.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m41.283s + 1.553s  26
 8.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m41.309s + 1.579s  27
 9.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m41.530s + 1.800s  27
10.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m41.620s + 1.890s  26
11.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m41.742s + 2.012s  26
12.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m41.773s + 2.043s  28
13.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m41.910s + 2.180s  27
14.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m42.038s + 2.308s  29
15.  Mika Kallio       Ducati           1m42.250s + 2.520s  24
16.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati    1m42.577s + 2.847s  25
17.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m42.736s + 3.006s  27