Pedrosa takes last-second Sepang pole

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa stole a last-second pole position on a drying track in qualifying for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang

Starting his final lap just ten seconds before the session finished with Valentino Rossi fastest at the time on 2:02.553, Pedrosa was one of several riders to improve their time after the session concluded.

First rider to improve was Rossi himself, going just over half a second faster to dip into the 2:01s. Then Colin Edwards moved into second, before he was demoted by Jorge Lorenzo, with Nicky Hayden pushing Edwards down again as Hayden moved into third.

Pedrosa was still on track, and having left his final run as late as possible, crossed the line and set a time of 2:01.548, four-tenths faster than Rossi's effort.

Andrea Dovizioso, who had set a time with two minutes remaining that put him in provisional pole, ended the session sixth, while Casey Stoner ended up seventh after going fastest with five minutes remaining but running out of time to start a final tilt at pole as the session ended.

Loris Capirossi, Randy de Puniet and John Hopkins completed the top ten, while Anthony West, who was fastest in morning practice and third-fastest with three minutes of qualifying remaining, ended up falling all the way down to thirteenth.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (B)  2:01.548
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  2:01.957  + 0.409
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  2:02.171  + 0.623
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  2:02.192  + 0.644
 5.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:02.245  + 0.697
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  2:02.836  + 1.288
 7.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  2:02.953  + 1.405
 8.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  2:03.078  + 1.530
 9.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  2:03.110  + 1.562
10.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  2:03.184  + 1.636
11.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:03.271  + 1.723
12.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  2:03.282  + 1.734
13.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:02.392  + 1.844
14.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  2:03.835  + 2.287
15.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  2:04.001  + 2.453
16.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  2:04.378  + 2.830
17.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  2:04.679  + 3.131
18.  Nobuatsu Aoki     Suzuki    (B)  2:04.835  + 3.287
19.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  2:05.120  + 3.572