Pedrosa relieved to qualify second

Around one quarter of the way into the one-hour session, the Spaniard had to abandon on the Barcelona track his RCV212 after an electrical glitch caused a small fire.

Losing time by having to get back to the garage made Pedrosa quite nervous, but he regained his composure to qualify less than one tenth behind the Ducati of rival Casey Stoner.

"It was difficult because the bike had a problem and I had to stop it when I saw some flames," Pedrosa told Italia1 television.

"It wasn't the engine catching fire but some electrical wire. It took me time to get back to the pits so I was a bit nervous. I took the spare bike but I wasn't too calm, but by the end of the session I felt calmer, it went better, and I managed to get second for the race.

"However we lost some testing time for the race. The race will be difficult. Let's see how the weather holds up. The Bridgestones are strong as usual, but the Michelins here aren't too bad."

Pedrosa's Honda is fitted with Michelin tyres while his main rivals for the championship, Stoner's Ducati and Rossi's Fiat Yamaha (only ninth on the grid), are on Bridgestones.