Konica Minolta struggling for handling fix

The Japanese rider has been unable to get the bike's handling to his liking all season, and finished only 13th in Turkey after crashing in practice.

The team's technical director Giulio Bernardelle now believes that drastic measures will be required to solve their current issues.

"After the race in Turkey we had a meeting with HRC technicians about our situation with race settings and the lack of feeling that Shinya has," he said 

"At least our problem is clear, even if we still have to work hard because it seems that the solution requests modifications beyond the normal range available for the bike setting.

"It seems as if Shinya is at the limit for handling and if he pushes any harder he will crash and not actually improve his time.

"Probably we'd need something new. In China we will do our best to get the RC212V more to Shinya's liking."

Bernardelle thinks that bad weather would provide Konica Minolta's best chance of a good performance in this weekend's Shanghai race.

"If the weather is bad for the race, we're not so worried as we had a very good test after the Jerez race in wet conditions, so it could be positive for us if it rains," he said.