Capirossi hoping for 'great weekend'

The Italian reckoned he could have gone quicker in Shanghai if he had not made mistakes on his final two laps of the session and, with him clear about set-up changes needed for his bike, he is optimistic for the race.

"It's been quite a positive day for us because we have tried many things and we have found a good setting for the bike," he said. "We went a bit softer on the front set-up this afternoon and although it is still not perfect we know what needs changing on the bike tomorrow.

"We are not yet 100% certain on the tyre for the race, but we have a good idea and we will run it for a lot of laps tomorrow to make sure it will be right for the race. I am close to the top-guy and I made a couple of mistakes on my last two laps or I would have gone even quicker. I think this could be a great weekend for us."

Teammate Chris Vermeulen was 12th fastest, half a second behind Capirossi, believed he can easily find more speed by using new rubber tomorrow.

"We tried a lot of things with the bike set-up today and definitely made some big steps forward this afternoon," said the Australian. "I used the same tyre for the whole afternoon session, which was probably not the best option as I struggled to get as much grip as I wanted when we were making so many changes to the bike.

"The good news is that Loris used a tyre today that I didn't and it seemed to be a big step forward for him, and as I have it in my allocation I will run that tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to seeing the difference it makes. We are confident for this weekend and are looking forward to what should be a good race."