Sepang (Malaysia): Movistar Yamaha's Valentino Rossi would have heaved a sigh of relief after Honda's Dani Pedrosa clocked the quickest time (one minute 59.053 seconds) to finish on pole for Sunday's Shell Malaysian MotoGP at the Sepang International Circuit on Saturday.


Valentino Rossi

Pedrosa (165 points) is in fifth place in the world championship standings and is not a prospect in the title race which currently has Rossi (296 points) leading the pack, with only 11 points separating him from his second-placed teammate Jorge Lorenzo (285 points).