Rossi grabs pole for Malaysian MotoGP

Italy’s Valentino Rossi will launch his bid for a seventh Moto GP world title from pole position at the Malaysian Grand Prix after clocking a lap record in gruelling conditions on Saturday. The Yamaha rider and defending world champion showed his jubilation after his successful outing at the Sepang circuit by pulling a wheelie and raising his left hand as he entered the pit lane at the end of qualifying.

The 30-year-old has a 38-point advantage in the world championship and a top-four finish in Sepang, one of his favourite circuits, will be enough for him to take the title on Sunday.

Rossi, whose teammate Jorge Lorenzo will join him on the front row, paid tribute to his team and the bike for his stunning performance in the hot weather. “The team worked well, the bike performed well, hence I was able to go faster,” Rossi said after his seventh pole position this season. “Starting from pole is important since the (first) corner is far away,” he added.

Rossi set a time of 2min 00.518sec while Lorenzo was just 0.569sec behind.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa (Honda) was 0.736sec adrift of Rossi while Australian Casey Stoner was fourth at 0.937sec. SEPANG, Malaysia, Sunday, (AFP)