Toseland says fourth was possible

The Briton felt only his own mistakes had cost him a second row start in Italy.

"I'm a bit frustrated because I think I should have been on the second row and maybe as high as fourth," Toseland said. "We made a step with the bike set-up but on my last qualifier I got the penultimate corner pretty good, so I whacked on the throttle and the rear came round on me.

"It stopped before I was on a trip to the moon, but the bike had gone into a bit of a headshake and I just missed my braking point for the last corner and ran slightly wide. I lost at least a couple of tenths and that cost me the second row."

Both Toseland and his Tech 3 Yamaha teammate Colin Edwards were extremely frustrated by Michelin's lack of pace in the Czech Republic, but the French tyres have proved much more competitive in Italy.

"So far it has been a good weekend and the tyres have been much better from Michelin," Toseland said.

"It is going to be a long and hard race and we've got to wait and see what tyre endurance is going to be like with the conditions being so hot. Nobody has done more than 15 or 16 laps so it will be tough, but I've got a good race set-up to give me a good chance.

"From the problems that we have had in the last few races, Michelin has responded well, but I'm not sure what the grip will be like after 15 laps. I definitely think we can be fighting for the top six, which is what we have not been able to do for a couple of months now."

Edwards was frustrated to end up 10th, having run second in opening practice yesterday.

"I've never gone well at this track but when I was second yesterday morning I thought there was a slight glimmer of hope," he said.

"I thought it might have been a good weekend because I felt good and confident but since then I've hit a brick wall. All I can do is a 35.4 regardless of what tyre I'm using or what changes we make to the bike. My first three qualifiers were barely better than a 35.4 and my last one I managed to put in a decent time, but nothing special.

"I'm a bit confused to be honest because it doesn't matter what we do, the lap time is around the same. Could I have gone much faster than I did? I don't think so."