Pedrosa pessimistic about race chances

The Repsol Honda rider qualified sixth at Misano, but is more concerned about his race pace.

"Well the second row is not so bad, though I have to say I was expecting even more from this qualifying session," Pedrosa said.

"We haven't found the ideal race set-up and tyre choice yet and this means tomorrow's warm-up is going to be crucial to give us a chance for the race.

"At the moment my pace and rhythm on race tyres is not really where it needs to be.

"The track is very bumpy in parts and this is giving us some stability issues which as yet we haven't been able to overcome. We'll look at the data from today and try to come up with a solution quickly in the warm-up."

Even if the team can find an answer to Pedrosa's problems, he fears it will be hard to make progress from sixth place.

"Starting from sixth on the grid is not perfect because the first part of the lap here is very tight and twisty, which means overtaking and making up places in the first laps will be difficult," he said.

"Still, we'll give it our best shot. This is an important race as we go into the last part of the season, so I'm determined to fight for the best result here."

Pedrosa still has an outside chance of the championship, as he is 78 points adrift of leader Casey Stoner with 150 points available in the remaining six rounds. He is 18 points behind second-placed Valentino Rossi.