Pedrosa says 'a little bit extra' needed

The Spaniard, third in the standings with just one victory this season, finished today's practice as third fastest, just over a tenth behind pace-setter Casey Stoner.

Pedrosa was the also the quickest Michelin runner.

And although the local hero was happy with his day's work, he reckons there is still pace to be found in order to be on top all weekend.

"Today was a solid start to the weekend and my fastest lap time was pretty good," said Pedrosa. "I was able to run at a reasonably consistent pace in both sessions and when the temperature rose for the afternoon my lap time came down quite a lot.

"Nonetheless, we still have a few issues to solve with settings and tyre choice if we're to be truly competitive - we need to find a little bit extra. The gap to the front is not big but everybody's times are very close and a small gap counts for quite a lot at this circuit.

"Obviously this is an important race for me and for the team. It's the last race of the year and our last chance to get a good result. Plus it's a home race for me which adds an extra incentive. We want to win here so we've got to continue moving forward to make that possible."

Teammate Nicky Hayden finished down in ninth position and the American admitted he was hoping for a much better start to the weekend.

"Honestly it's not the start to the weekend we wanted and we'd have liked to have come out of the gate a lot stronger," said Hayden. "On the cooler track we're having a hard time getting the tyres to work as I would like.

"However, we've made a bit of progress today and I definitely hope that tomorrow I can do a lot better personally, and that we can also make some changes to get the bike to work the tyres more effectively. We don't seem to have the grip that I need at the moment so we'll see what other options Michelin has available and work on the settings too.

"There's still a long way to go this weekend and the two hours of practice tomorrow will be crucial. Qualifying is going to be really important too so we'll be looking to come out a lot stronger tomorrow."