Michelin surprised by Rossi's lap time

Rossi's Michelin-shod Fiat Yamaha set a time of 1:58.424, almost nine tenths of a second quicker than second-fastest Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins on Bridgestone rubber.

"I'm surprised by the lap time of course," Weber told autosport.com. "It's the rider, it's the bike and it's the tyre. Valentino didn't complain about any chatter or vibration on the bike, so the balance of the bike seems to be perfect.

"We know he likes his qualifiers. We saw it worked well in Istanbul and in Jerez, so this is something we don't have to change."

Today's pole position is the third one of the season for Rossi in four races. The Italian rider, however, complained about his tyres after the last race in Turkey, where his rear Michelin was worn out by mid-race, allowing him to finish no better than tenth at the end.

As a result, the French tyre manufacturer has brought a new tyre structure for him for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Weber was also surprised that last year's pole position time - set by Dani Pedrosa with his 990cc Repsol Honda - was beaten by this year's 800cc bikes, with Rossi shattering that time by over half a second.

"Yes, it was amazing. I had thought we might have some better results with other riders, but we see the balance of the Yamaha is very good. I didn't think last year's time would be beaten.

"The race will be something different anyway. Of course it's important to be in a good position for the start of the race, but we see both Michelin and Bridgestone race tyres are fast. I think it's gonna be really exciting tomorrow."