JIR hope for breakthrough at home

In the build-up to Estoril the team warned Nakano that he had to push harder in the remaining races. He has not finished above 10th this season having struggled to get to grips with the 800cc Honda.

But although Nakano only finished 11th in Portugal, team boss Gianluca Montiron believes he made progress during the weekend. He hopes this will pay off at Motegi - the home race for both the rider and the team's title sponsor Konica Minolta.

"I think a home race will give Shinya a better position to do well," Montiron said.

"I think he needs confidence to ride and enjoy the track, and from this comes a good lap time. I think in the past he's not been able to do that, but things have been improving steadily since Brno.

"I also feel something has changed in Shinya so I think that he's coming to Motegi with more confidence than before.

"We have both trust and belief in Shinya at our home race of Motegi and so a top eight finish is our target."

Konica Minolta's technical director Giulio Bernardelle added that progress by Michelin had also made a difference to the team.

"I'm thinking that after Misano and Estoril we have seen our situation improve, partly from machine improvements but particularly concerning the Michelin tyres we can now use," said Bernardelle.

"We found in Misano and during practice at Estoril that getting improved performance from the rear tyre was a most important step forward for our overall results and I think that Michelin's improvement for us has come just at the right time as we head to Motegi."