Stefan Bradl content despite home front row slipping away

The German starred throughout the session, holding top spot at the halfway mark - at which point heavy rain meant further improvements looked unlikely - and then forming part of a seven-way fight in the final five minutes.

Three times the LCR Honda went top as qualifying built to a thrilling conclusion, but Bradl's final two flying efforts did not produce improvements and he slipped to sixth as a consequence.

"At the end of the session the surface started to dry up and everybody pushed hard but I got stopped by some slower riders in my last lap," Bradl said.

"I am bit disappointed because we could take the front row but in any case it was a very positive session for us and we can be happy about the result."

Bradl said he had not expected qualifying to be wet, but took comfort from his team's ability to adapt to the conditions.

"We did not expect to have a wet qualifying today but at the end it rained a lot and our pace has been consistently fast since the beginning," he said.

"With the little adjustments that we made I could quickly adapt to the conditions lapping with a good pace. We have been doing a good job for the whole session and this is a positive sign for me and the team."