Hopkins disappointed with qualifying pace

After being no worse than eighth in the free practice sessions, 14th position on tomorrow's starting grid was not what Hopkins was expecting.

However, he had troubles with the two types of qualifying tyres he used today - on one, it was his own riding errors that cost him, while on the other, it made it difficult for him to ride the bike.

"We were expecting a lot better than this after three good practice sessions here," Hopkins lamented. "The bike feels strong at this circuit, we know we have a good race tyre for tomorrow if it's dry and I'm feeling confident.

"But we've made our job a lot harder by not qualifying higher up the grid. We had two different types of qualifying tyre today, and one type worked well, but I made a couple of mistakes on my flying laps.

"The other type was virtually unusable because of the chatter it induced. In fact it was so bad, it virtually bounced me off the bike at the start of my last qualifying run.

"I'm disappointed because I was expecting much better but we've got a good set-up for the race. Now I just need to get my head down and go as hard as I can from the start."

His teammate Anthony West continued to struggle with wheelspin on the exit of corners, but hasn't given up on the weekend despite the problem. However, he admitted he would not be disappointed if the rain forecast for tomorrow's race did arrive.

"We came into this weekend with high hopes after a successful test at Estoril but we've ended up disappointed again. We seem to have the same problem that's been plaguing us since the start of the season, where the bike just seems to spin up as soon as you touch the throttle on corner exit.

"John doesn't seem to have the same issues, so we know it's not a fundamental problem, but for now we're struggling to find a solution.

"It's frustrating but we're not giving up and I'll push as hard as I can. Rain is forecast and, while most people will be hoping it stays dry, a wet race wouldn't be unwelcome on my side of the pit box!"