Hayden content enough with fourth

The Repsol Honda rider was pushed down from second to fourth on the grid in the dying seconds of the session by late runs from rivals Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo.

"It would have been nice to be on the front row, but still, second row outside here is not a disaster," said the Kentucky rider.

"I need to get a good start because that first corner and that whole first section is really tight and really only one line, so certainly it's gonna be a bit of carnage outside that.

"Things went a lot smoother today. Yesterday in the heavy rain I was aquaplaning everywhere, and was riding like a sissy. Everytime I tried to push I just had aquaplaning. I was going nowhere.

"But today I took the scare off, gassed it up, and the bike worked a lot better in the dry, or just semi-dry, even this morning with all the standing water.

"So, it's not perfect, but that's the best race pace I've had in a while. The race tyre was going quite good, so let's see what happens tomorrow."