Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi broke the Sepang MotoGP pole position record earlier today, lapping in an astonishing 2'00.518 which beat his own time set on qualifying tyres in 2006.
The Italian was half-a-second faster than team-mate Jorge Lorenzo with Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner in third. Rossi and the Australian shared the top of the leaderboard for half of the session until The Doctor took control with 25 minutes to go and never looked back.
"I am so happy about that final lap! I couldn't believe it when I saw it on my dashboard, I thought it was possible to go faster but not by that much! My team and I have worked very well here and we've had a good strategy with Bridgestone, which left us with plenty of time at the end to try for the pole," said Rossi.
"It's very important to be on the front row here so we have done our job well, plus I am confident about our setting and our race pace. We're in good shape. It's incredibly hot and tomorrow will be hard for everyone, as it always is here, but we have a good advantage and I am really looking forward to the battle. Let's see where we are at this time tomorrow."
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