Rossi elated with pole lap

The Yamaha rider, who only needs a fourth place finish at Sepang to seal a seventh premier class world championship, went to the top of the timesheets with 22 minutes of qualifying remaining.

He then improved his time by over seven tenths of a second over the remaining laps, eventually breaking his own pole record of three years earlier.

"We decided a good procedure with Bridgestone so that I had a lot of time at the end [of the session] to try for my best lap," said Rossi.

"My target was to go under 2m01.0, and on the last lap I did that. Unfortunately, my dashboard was not working.

"I looked and saw the 2m00.5 [on the giant screen trackside] and thought 'No, someone's beaten me.' But it was my time, so I am very happy. It was a monster lap."

The 30-year-old Italian said that he would take a patient approach during the race and not take any undue risks.

"The plan is like a normal race, but for sure I must be patient because of what we need to do [to win the world championship]," he added.

"Our bike is working well and we need to make a great start from pole and have good pace."