Lorenzo confident in Yamaha pace

Valentino Rossi took pole with Lorenzo just half a tenth behind, while both were half a second faster than third-placed Dani Pedrosa's Honda. Lorenzo complained of problems with the softer tyre in the morning, but expects Yamaha to maintain its pace on Sunday.

"This morning we tried the softer Bridgestone tyre but I didn't feel so good on it. This afternoon we gave it another chance but again it didn't seem to work so well, so we decided to just concentrate on the harder tyre," said Lorenzo.

"I had a very strong pace and, like yesterday, I felt very comfortable on the bike, but I couldn't quite get the pole position today. Being on the front row is always important, though and we've reached this target; we know that we're very fast.

"Everyone is excited and motivated as usual and we're confident that we have the race set-up to allow us to challenge tomorrow."