Rossi thrilled to overcome poor practice

The Italian had struggled for speed on his spare bike yesterday after a spectacular engine failure struck his primary machine. The incident prompted Yamaha to return to their older specification engine for the rest of the weekend.

But Rossi rebounded in qualifying to earn a place in the middle of the front row, between Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden's Repsol Hondas.

"I'm in good shape and I'm very happy about today - because yesterday was a disaster and we were struggling a lot," he said.

"But I have to say thank you to all the guys because we modified the bike in some different ways and now I'm able to use the throttle and the grip of the tyres a lot better. I'm happy about the tyres because we have good grip and quite a good rhythm."

The Fiat Yamaha rider said he was still working to refine his set-up, and had actually taken a slight step backwards in qualifying after making greater progress in final practice.

"This morning was better, this afternoon we tried something different and it was more difficult," Rossi said.

"Dani is a little bit faster in the rhythm compared to us, so we have to try something different for tomorrow.

"But I'm happy about the second position because starting from the front row is the target. We'll wait for tomorrow and see what happens in the race."

Rossi has to out-score title rival Casey Stoner by two points at Motegi to keep the championship contest open until Phillip Island. Stoner could only qualify ninth in Japan.