Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden (Photo: Honda Pro Images) » More Photos

DANI ROMPS TO POLE AND ASSERTS AUTHORITY

He was fastest yesterday and today Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) established his dominance here at Le Mans with a 1m 32.647s lap to make pole his own with Colin Edwards (Yamaha) second fastest and reigning World Champion Casey Stoner (Ducati) mustering third quickest time.

With changeable weather a huge factor here this weekend, conditions at least stayed consistent for the hour of final MotoGP qualifying. The track gradually warmed throughout the session and as grip factors improved it was Dani who was in a position to make the most of them.

Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) made the early running with Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) third fastest before Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), who had crashed heavily yesterday, recorded a 1m 34.198s lap to head the leader-board.

But as Dani notched up a 1m 34.061s pole lap looking smooth and very purposeful on his RC212V it was clear he had the measure of the track and his rivals would have to find something very special to better the Spanish star around the 4.185km of this circuit.

Just before the halfway point Dani did the job no one else seemed capable of when he bested his own time to put a 1m 33.911s lap on the timesheets and spur his rivals into upping their pace as clouds gathered and rain threatened.

Sure enough, with the extra incentive of a damp track to drive them on, Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) commandeered pole with a 1m 33.859s lap with Lorenzo edging up to second on the provisional grid squeezing Dani into third. Randy de Puniet held fourth with Dovi now ninth overall.

Dani replied with a 1m 33.857s time cutting underneath Vermeulen by a mere two thousandths of a second. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) then alerted the grid to his presence with a 1m 33.767s lap. But it was Edwards who would soon show what was possible here.

The Texan rider cut 1m 33.065s lap, fully 0.6 seconds faster than the 2007 pole time as the field, almost without exception, pitted to fit sticky qualifying rubber and make the most of the grip on offer. With just three riders still circulating Edwards emerged for a lap and then shot bellow the 1m 33s barrier to a 1m 32.774s time.

Stoner came back strongly to go second fastest with Vermeulen relegated to third, those three riders covered by 0.7 seconds. Edwards looked invulnerable as Dani clawed back to second on the grid. His teammate Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) was struggling in 12th spot.

With two minutes left on the clock Stoner nudged Dani back to second and Nicky made the most of qualifying rubber to carve up to sixth fastest and a row two berth. Dovi was till holding ninth at this late stage. Dani was not finished though.

After some final chassis adjustments he headed out on track and his 1m 32.647s time stunned Edwards and the rest of the pole contenders. With one minute left of the hour-long session to go no one could knock Dani off the top grid slot.

This is Dani’s first pole of the season so far and it couldn’t come at a better time with the European rounds coming thick and fast over the coming weeks. But the top 12 riders are covered by just over one second here – a measure of how hard Pedrosa had to work for this pole, his tenth so far in MotoGP. However consistent Dani has been this season unsettled weather may prove critical tomorrow.