Rossi expects step forward on Saturday

The seven-time champion, who needs just one point to secure the runner-up spot in the championship, finished down in eighth position in this afternoon's practice session.

The Yamaha rider was over six tenths of a second slower than Casey Stoner, who set the pace in both sessions with his Bridgestone-shod Ducati.

But Rossi believes there is still a lot of room for improvement, and he was encouraged by the fact that Honda's Dani Pedrosa, like him using Michelin tyres, was close to Stoner's pace.

"I think it's possible to improve quite a lot, also because Dani Pedrosa with the Michelin is not so far from Casey," Rossi said after practice.

"I think we have some problems with the settings especially. I don't have a lot of traction, but we are quite confident for tomorrow to do better.

"So the plan is try to start from the first row and see what happens on Sunday."