Hayden satisfied with seventh

Hayden has had a troubled title defence so far, struggling to acclimatise to the new 800cc bike and failing to break into the top six in the opening rounds.

But he was satisfied with his Le Mans effort and is hoping for a better race.

"That's the best my bike has felt on qualifiers for a while, with the least amount of chatter, and it felt pretty good today," Hayden said.

"I didn't get the final section of my best lap perfectly right and I wish I could have got through there a little bit quicker.

"So it wasn't a stellar day, finishing back in seventh in both sessions but overall I've felt better than I have in the last few races and the Michelin tyres seem to be working well too. Also there aren't any long straights around this circuit so I'm not losing out a whole lot top speed wise."

The result also marked the first time in 2007 that Hayden had qualified ahead of his Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard will line up 10th, citing poor handling and traffic problems.

"Obviously starting from tenth isn't really where I want to be and that will make a good start especially important," said Pedrosa.

"There were a couple of issues with the machine today which cost us some time and then in qualifying I had some traffic in the second section of the lap which meant my time wasn't as quick as it should have been.

"It's a little frustrating, especially as I was on pole position last year, however we have some more options to try in the warm-up."