Capirossi optimistic despite problems

Capirossi set the fifth fastest time in the second session, which was incredibly close, with less than seven tenths of a second between the top and tenth fastest rider.

The Ducati rider, whose team are believed to be favourites for the race thanks to their straightline speed, admitted he was not yet one hundred per cent happy with his bike, but the Italian is nonetheless optimistic for Sunday.

"We are all really, really close, it's a bit like a 125 session," said Capirossi. "This morning I didn't feel so good, we had a few problems but we were able to work very well on set-up, so a big thank you to my team for that.

"We chose a configuration with quite a lot of weight on the front end and I feel comfortable, so I can ride quite well.

"I've still got a few problems with the bumps here, so we are working on that to get the best out of the bike with the power delivery I prefer.

"We still have a few ideas to test tomorrow, but if it does rain and we can't try them out, we aren't so bad on race set-up, so I'm pretty confident for Sunday, which should be sunny, according to the forecast."

Championship leader Casey Stoner topped the times in the morning session but was unable to do better than eighth after lunch.

"It was a bit strange, there seems to be a lot of riders going fast but whether they can keep up a race pace is another matter," said the 21-year-old

"So far we are not so bad, and tomorrow we have to focus on making the bike turn better and we need to find some more rear grip. In the afternoon we did a positive long run and we aren't worried about tyres, we are pretty comfortable from that point of view.

"It looks as if a lot of riders are able to go pretty fast out there, and we need to be able to stay amongst them. Generally, we're going not so bad, we are working to improve and we hope to make good progress tomorrow."