Capirossi searching for rear grip

The Suzuki rider struggled all day in the wet conditions, taking 13th in the morning then falling a further four positions in the slightly less damp second session.

"Today has been very tough because we have been working all day to find the best solution to the conditions," said Capirossi. "It feels like I have zero grip on the rear and every time I lean the bike over I feel like I am going to lose it.

"We tried many things with settings and in the end we changed a lot of things and immediately went one second quicker, but the session was then over and we couldn't keep on working to see what more improvements we could make.

"We certainly have a lot of work to do because we are still far away from the top and we still don't really understand why we have the problem with the rear, but we will be looking at the data to see what is happening - we really hope it rains tomorrow so we can fix the problem. We know we have to go much better, and we certainly have the capability to do so."

Team boss Paul Denning admitted that Suzuki had expected to be faster at Valencia, and he reckoned the fault lay with the bike rather than the Bridgestone rain tyres.

"There is no hiding the fact that today has been disappointing," he said. "We came here with very high hopes, but we were left today searching for better weather, better performance and requiring a big step in rear grip, particularly in the wet but drying conditions towards the end of this afternoon's session.

"At the end it certainly became very difficult for us to get confidence and positive feedback out of the package. Other Bridgestone guys have gone very quickly today in these conditions, so it is clear that we have a lot of work to do tonight, and into tomorrow, if the weather stays the same."

But while Capirossi and Denning was frustrated, Chris Vermeulen was more optimistic having taken eighth place in the morning and 11th later on.

"The bike did seem to work pretty well straight out of the box so everything seems to be okay there," he said.

"As the track conditions changed, with even more rain, we went out and tried even more settings in those conditions - just in case the race is like that - and we feel as though we are prepared if that happens."