Rossi expected second position

The defending world champion, who is aiming for a record-equalling seventh premier class title this year, was marginally under half a second slower in qualifying than polesitter Casey Stoner.

"Second is exactly what we expected, so we have reached our objective," Rossi told Italia1 TV. "We are very close to Stoner, but a bit slower in some spots, so we have to understand how to fix that, tonight, or tomorrow.

"Starting second is fundamentally important, because the tests we had here were pretty bad, and we have made a big improvement on that this weekend, and even an improvement from this afternoon to tonight, so I'm quite happy with that."

Rossi said that the new-for-2009 reduced qualifying length of 45 minutes was challenging, but probably played into the hands of his Yamaha team.

"In my opinion the new qualifying is not bad," the 71-times race-winner added. "The 45-minute session is tough because you need to do things quickly, but we can manage to go very quick, so it's okay."