PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia -- World MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi said on Saturday he would be telling Australian Grand Prix officials their track contained a "very dangerous" corner.

Newly crowned 125cc world champion Daniel Pedrosa fractured both ankles during a morning practice session on Friday at the Phillip Island circuit, 130 km south-east of Melbourne.

"This track is not so bad but the point where Pedrosa crashed is very dangerous," Rossi told a news conference after taking pole position for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.

Honda rider Pedrosa was thrown feet first into a wall of tires. He had to have pins inserted in both feet and surgery on both legs in a four-hour operation at Melbourne's Alfred Hospital on Friday night.

The 18-year-old was not expected to be riding a motorcycle again for four months, Honda said in a statement.

Pedrosa won the 125cc world title with victory in last week's Malaysian Grand Prix.

Italy's Rossi, also a Honda rider, clinched his third successive title in the premier class by winning in Malaysia.

Spain's Honda rider Sete Gibernau, who is second in the standings behind Rossi and a member of the riders' safety committee with the Italian, also voiced his concerns after qualifying third on the MotoGP front row.

"On this race track, you have the bike a lot of time leaned at very high speeds. So maybe this race track needs even more run-off area than normal because the amount of time you have risking a crash is high," Gibernau told a news conference.

"There are two or three places that are quite dangerous.

"We will go around the race track and see the points we have to work on."

Track steward John Thomson told Reuters: "Where Pedrosa crashed, it's quite a safe area. They have just raised an issue about the run-off area."

Rossi's pole time of one minute 30.068 seconds was well ahead of the previous Phillip Island best pole of Briton Jeremy McWilliams who recorded 1:31.919 last year.

Rossi said: "To be nearly two seconds quicker is incredible. Within five years we will arrive at Formula One speeds if we go on like this."