Danny Webb took his and Mahindra's first 125cc pole position in the category's last qualifying session at a damp Valencia.

Drying conditions prompted a spectacular pole battle, with Webb, Louis Rossi and Alexis Masbou choosing to go for slick tires in the closing moments and reaping the benefits.

Championship leader Nico Terol will start only ninth, six places behind title rival Johann Zarco, although Terol needs just an 11th position to seal the crown, regardless of what Zarco does.

Webb made by far the best use of the slicks to set a string of searing provisional pole times, eventually ending with a 1m45.988s – nearly two seconds clear of the field for a while, although second-placed Rossi's Matteoni Aprilia was within half a second in the end.

Fellow slick runner Masbou was fifth on the Caretta KTM, with Zarco (Ajo Derbi) the quickest wet tyre user in third, ahead of Luis Salom's RW Aprilia.

Terol could only manage ninth for Aspar, although the eventual result was far better for the Spaniard than it had looked at one stage during the ever-changing session, when Zarco held provisional pole and Terol was only 22nd.

Hector Faubel (Aspar Aprilia), Sandro Cortese (Team Germany Aprilia) and Maverick Vinales (Blusens Aprilia) will start just ahead of Terol in sixth to eighth places, with Ajo's Jonas Folger completing the top 10.

Masbou's teammate Jack Miller was spectacularly quick in the wet and held provisional pole for a while, before slipping to 12th as conditions improved.

Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike           Time       Gap
 1.  Danny Webb             Mahindra            1m45.898s
 2.  Louis Rossi            Matteoni Aprilia    1m46.325s  + 0.427s
 3.  Johann Zarco           Ajo Derbi           1m48.028s  + 2.130s
 4.  Luis Salom             RW Aprilia          1m48.264s  + 2.366s
 5.  Alexis Masbou          Caretta KTM         1m48.283s  + 2.385s
 6.  Hector Faubel          Aspar Aprilia       1m48.288s  + 2.390s
 7.  Sandro Cortese         Germany Aprilia     1m48.731s  + 2.833s
 8.  Maverick Vinales       Blusens Aprilia     1m48.756s  + 2.858s
 9.  Nicolas Terol          Aspar Aprilia       1m48.920s  + 3.022s
10.  Jonas Folger           Ajo Aprilia         1m49.438s  + 3.540s
11.  Adrian Martin          Aspar Aprilia       1m49.456s  + 3.558s
12.  Jack Miller            Caretta KTM         1m49.721s  + 3.823s
13.  Efren Vazquez          Ajo Derbi           1m49.726s  + 3.828s
14.  Alberto Moncayo        Andalucia Aprilia   1m49.779s  + 3.881s
15.  Zulfahmi Khairuddin    Ajo Derbi           1m49.794s  + 3.896s
16.  Josep Rodriguez        Blusens Aprilia     1m50.178s  + 4.280s
17.  Alessandro Tonucci     Italia FMI Aprilia  1m50.345s  + 4.447s
18.  Danny Kent             Ajo Aprilia         1m50.382s  + 4.484s
19.  Niklas Ajo             TT Motion Aprilia   1m50.583s  + 4.685s
20.  Manuel Tatasciore      Phonica Aprilia     1m51.023s  + 5.125s
21.  Sturla Fagerhaug       WTR-Ten10 Aprilia   1m51.088s  + 5.190s
22.  Luigi Morciano         Italia FMI Aprilia  1m51.162s  + 5.264s
23.  Marcel Schrotter       Mahindra            1m51.667s  + 5.769s
24.  Jakub Kornfeil         Ongetta Aprilia     1m51.953s  + 6.055s
25.  John McPhee            KRP Aprilia         1m52.005s  + 6.107s
26.  Taylor Mackenzie       Phonica Aprilia     1m52.699s  + 6.801s
27.  Jasper Iwema           Ongetta Aprilia     1m53.063s  + 7.165s
28.  Peter Sebestyen        Matteoni Aprilia    1m53.313s  + 7.415s
29.  Harry Stafford         Ongetta Aprilia     1m53.370s  + 7.472s
30.  Giulian Pedone         Phonica Aprilia     1m53.556s  + 7.658s
31.  Daniel Ruiz            Larresport Honda    1m54.437s  + 8.539s
32.  Juan Francisco Guevar  Pramac Aprilia      1m54.767s  + 8.869s
33.  Kevin Hanus            Hanusch Honda       1m55.262s  + 9.364s
34.  Emil Petersen          Nordgren Honda      1m55.406s  + 9.508s
35.  Marco Colandrea        WTR-Ten10 Aprilia   1m56.230s  + 10.332s
36.  Brad Binder            Andalucia Aprilia   1m56.887s  + 10.989s