Pedrosa is currently second in the championship standings

The 20-year-old Spaniard recovered from a crash during practice to set the fastest lap time of 1:21:815.

American Kenny Roberts was second, 0.092 behind, while Pedrosa's Honda team-mate and championship leader Nicky Hayden was third.

Reigning champion Valentino Rossi was more than a second down on Pedrosa and will start from 11th spot.

After winning the British GP last week, Pedrosa is aiming to become the youngest back-to-back winner in MotoGP.

"It's important to be on the front row on this track," said Pedrosa. "The set-up of the machine is not so bad, so let's see if we can do a great race.

"The important thing was that I was okay in the crash although the bike was virtually destroyed.

"I had to ride my second bike in qualifying which took a little time to set up, but it was very important to start from the front row of the grid and to get pole was perfect."

Hayden, who leads the standings on 153 points ahead of Pedrosa on 127, said: "We've just been trying to sweeten it up.

"The pace isn't quite there yet but I'm happy to be on the front row. It's definitely really important here. I'll have to get a good start tomorrow so I don't waste it."

MotoGP qualifying (Sat):

1 Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 1min 21.815secs
2 Kenny Roberts (USA) Honda 1:21.907
3 Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1:22.083
4 Shinya Nakano (Jpn) Kawasaki 1:22.273
5 Loris Capirossi (Ita) Ducati 1:22.329
6 Marco Melandri (Ita) Honda 1:22.420
7 Sete Gibernau (Spa) Ducati 1:22.469
8 Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda 1:22.577
9 John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 1:22.701
10 Makoto Tamada (Jpn) Honda 1:22.866

250cc qualifying (Sat):

1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) Aprilia 1:25.073
2 Yuki Takahashi (Jpn) KTM 0.078
3 Hector Barbera (Spa) Aprilia 0.087
4 Roberto Locatelli (Ita) Aprilia 0.183
5 Alex De Angelis (Ser) Aprilia 0.228

125cc qualifying (Sat):