Rossi satisfied with second on the grid

Despite his best effort being nearly half a second slower than Stoner's, Rossi says he was pleased with his time and is confident going into the race.

"I'm quite happy, it's a good job," he said. "To start from second is a good target for us. In the end, with qualifying tyres, a 1:21.1 is a great lap time. We are the ones closest to Stoner, who is extremely fast, and my time is what I could do.

"In the last few races we struggled a little bit more in practice, but now we are going in the right way. We also ran with race tyres and it's not bad, my rhythm is farily quick. We'll have to make two or three modifications for the race and we'll try to make a good start.

"I think it will be a hard race for everybody because physically Laguna is difficult, and also for the tyres it's quite critical. It's fundamental to stay at the front and we have the pace, so we'll see."

But Rossi remained realistic about his chances of winning the race and when asked how he could beat Stoner, he joked: "I'll start 30 seconds earlier!"