Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa will start the 2010 Gran Premio d’Italia TIM from pole position at Mugello after a late lap in qualifying scored him the top spot.

Securing his second pole of the season, Pedrosa beat Jorge Lorenzo to the position by 0.177s.

Joining the Spanish duo on the front row will be Australian Ducati rider Casey Stoner, although he is a significant 0.613s off Pedrosa’s pace. Stoner’s team-mate Nicky Hayden will lead the second row after taking fourth.

Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) both enjoyed good sessions and they will start fifth and sixth places respectively.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will start his first MotoGP race at Mugello from seventh place ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) and Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) rounding out the top 10.

Tomorrow’s race will notably lack the presence of Valentino Rossi who broke his leg in a practice accident. The reigning World Champion was taken to hospital earlier in the day, and will have an operation on a fractured right tibia this afternoon. Early predictions say that he could miss up to two months of racing, therefore ruling him out of the championship hunt.