Suzuki: More to come in race trim

Capirossi qualified eighth and Vermeulen 12th, but the Australian says the team didn't show their true pace in the session, which was the first dry running of the weekend.

"They were very difficult conditions for qualifying," said Vermeulen. "It was the first time this weekend we had put slicks on and we had to try to get a dry set-up, test some race tyres and set a fast lap on qualifiers, all on a track that wasn't completely dry. It certainly was a tough challenge.

"I feel like the bike is working reasonably well and at the end of the session I was on my fastest lap but I made a couple of mistakes and lost a bit of time.

"If I hadn't, I'm sure I'd have been further up the grid. The race pace looks reasonable so hopefully we can get through the field early and have a strong race."

Capirossi too felt that he didn't produce his best time in qualifying: "I think I used the qualifier a little too early because the track wasn't 100 per cent dry and I think maybe I lost a couple of tenths on the time.

"This is not too big a problem, though, the middle of the third row is ok here, I was able to test some race tyres and I'm happy with the set-up for tomorrow."