Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa on his way to pole position at Catalunya.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa claimed pole for Sunday’s Catalan MotoGP round following an exciting qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.

Also on the front row, for what promises to be a superb race, are Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo.

Pedrosa is in impressive form on his 200th grand prix weekend and his pole time of 1m40.893 is the best ever lap of Catalunya.

Slotting themselves in on the front row and also looking to get away from the chasing pack tomorrow are Crutchlow and Lorenzo, with the pair trailing pole-man Pedrosa by 0.608s and 0.673s respectively.

Lorenzo overcame an early clutch problem, swapping bikes to make the front row.

From the second row, GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, who had his best qualifying of the year, Ducati’s Nicky Hayden and Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez will also be hoping to mount podium challenges, having all qualified within a second of pole.

From row three, the Italian trio of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi, Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone and Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso will all aim to make their final improvements in warm up on Sunday morning in order to be able to challenge the leading six on the grid.

Iannone impressed in eighth having made it through from Q1 with Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith who qualified 11th, sandwiched by 10th placed LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl and 12th placed Power Electronics Aspar man Aleix Espargaro – the only CRT rider to make Q2.

The scorching heat at the Circuit de Catalunya – track temperatures reached 57 degrees Celsius during qualifying – is forecast to continue on Sunday, meaning that tyre tactics will be as important as ever for the sixth race of the season.

Many riders remain undecided, whilst Ducati pair Hayden and Dovizioso have already ruled out the harder option.

The Moto2 contest will get underway with Pol Espargaro on pole, whilst Scott Redding and Tito Rabat will start just behind him on the grid.

Queenslander Anthony West was 25th on the QMMF Racing Team Speed Up.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Luis Salom will start the Moto3 race in pole position after a storming performance in qualifying, with Alex Rins and Miguel Oliveira also on front row.

Australian youngsters Jack Miller and Arthur Sissis were eighth and 11th respectively – Sissis the major improver during the qualifying session.

2013 MotoGP World Championship
Round six – Catalunya, Spain

MotoGP qualifying results:
1. Dani PEDROSA 1m40.893
2. Cal CRUTCHLOW 1m41.501
3. Jorge LORENZO 1m41.566
4. Alvaro BAUTISTA 1m41.714
5. Nicky HAYDEN 1m41.800
6. Marc MARQUEZ 1m41.842
7. Valentino ROSSI 1m41.959
8. Andrea IANNONE 1m41.963
9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 1m42.053
10. Stefan BRADL 1m42.090
11. Bradley SMITH 1m42.548
12. Aleix ESPARGARO 1m42.878
13. Randy DE PUNIET 1m43.186
14. Michele PIRRO 1m43.330
15. Hector BARBERA 1m43.659
16. Colin EDWARDS 1m43.983
17. Karel ABRAHAM 1m44.362
18. Danilo PETRUCCI 1m44.369
19. Claudio CORTI 1m44.603
20. Michael LAVERTY 1m44.630
22. Bryan STARING (AUS) 1m45.441

Moto2 qualifying results:
1. Pol ESPARGARO 1m46.410
2. Scott REDDING 1m47.029
3. Esteve RABAT 1m47.076
4. Takaaki NAKAGAMI 1m47.098
5. Alex DE ANGELIS 1m47.149
6. Johann ZARCO 1m47.213
7. Jordi TORRES 1m47.258
8. Randy KRUMMENACHER 1m47.418
9. Sandro CORTESE 1m47.422
10. Thomas LUTHI 1m47.424
11. Mattia PASINI 1m47.475
12. Mika KALLIO 1m47.540
13. Marcel SCHROTTER 1m47.559
14. Dominique AEGERTER 1m47.586
15. Simone CORSI 1m47.695
16. Julian SIMON 1m47.731
17. Danny KENT 1m47.803
18. Kyle SMITH 1m47.805
19. Xavier SIMEON 1m47.808
20. Nicolas TEROL 1m47.808
25. Anthony WEST (AUS) 1m48.064

Moto3 qualifying results:
1. Luis SALOM 1m50.782
2. Alex RINS 1m51.108
3. Miguel OLIVEIRA 1m51.540
4. Alex MARQUEZ 1m51.668
5. Maverick VIÑALES 1m51.802
6. Efren VAZQUEZ 1m51.952
7. Isaac VIÑALES 1m51.966
8. Jack MILLER (AUS) 1m52.060
9. Niccolò ANTONELLI 1m52.105
10. Alexis MASBOU 1m52.299
11. Arthur SISSIS (AUS) 1m52.382
12. Brad BINDER 1m52.441
13. Livio LOI 1m52.479
14. Alessandro TONUCCI 1m52.486
15. Alan TECHER 1m52.518
16. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN 1m52.568
17. Jakub KORNFEIL 1m52.590
18. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI 1m52.627
19. Toni FINSTERBUSCH 1m52.716
20. John McPHEE 1m52.743

Click here for detailed results