Konica Minolta eye stronger Saturday

With the rain that marred second practice expected to remain for the rest of the weekend, the team feel they have only just begun to explore the limits of their machine in wet conditions.

"This morning we ran in dry conditions and this afternoon it was full wet with a lot of standing water on the track," said Bernardelle. "This morning was productive, as we used a new rear tyre and the feeling was pretty good.

"This afternoon with an eye on the weather we decided to prepare one bike for dry and one for wet conditions. Despite Shinya starting with the wet setting bike, the quantity of water on the track meant that we had to make further changes in the pits, so Shinya was forced to stay in the pit box longer than expected.

"At the end of the session we tried to adjust the setting of the second bike to the changed conditions of the track as the rain was less intense. Shinya only had time to go out for a few minutes before the chequered flag, but he was able to obtain a remarkable improvement in his performance.

"Shinya's feeling with the bike seems to be in an improving phase and this makes us hope for the best for tomorrow when we will have to improve our performance whatever the track conditions are."