Capirossi uninjured in practice crash

The Italian, fresh from confirming a contract extension with Suzuki earlier this week, was impressed after testing the Japanese manufacturer's new chassis in wet conditions for the first time.

"It has been a quite positive day because we were able test the new chassis in the wet and the reaction was good straight away," said Capirossi. "I crashed right at the end of the session when I hit a big puddle of water and high-sided, but I am ok.

"I felt good on the bike today and that is very encouraging. From my point of view I really want some good weather for the rest of the weekend because I don't like riding in the rain, and for us it will be better to work on the bike in the dry."

Capirossi's team-mate Chris Vermeulen finished the session in 12th place after making the wrong call on set-up when the circuit was at its quickest.

"We tried something different at the start, but the setting just didn't work," he said. "In the wettest part of the session the bike worked quite well and my lap-times in those conditions were quite good.

"Towards the end we made some fine-tune adjustments but I didn't get a clear lap in to improve my time. I am quite happy with the bike, but we do still have a bit of work to do to get it spot-on in the very wet conditions."