Pedrosa: Honda need more race pace

The Spaniard grabbed second on the grid from Suzuki's Loris Capirossi with his last lap of the session.

He said the loss of practice mileage to rain had left him struggling to perfect set-up for both single laps and the race distance during the first part of qualifying.

"It was a difficult session because we only had half of (final) practice to test for tomorrow," Pedrosa said. "Of course we were pushing to find the best setting for the race (in qualifying)."

Pedrosa reckons the rapid pace being set by the front-runners will make the race extremely challenging, and thinks Honda must raise their game if he is to stay amongst the leaders.

"I think it will be a very hard race because the riders are going very fast and it will be demanding for the tyres and the bike," he said. "I think we have to look for something more for tomorrow's race."