Team hope Nakano can maintain form

Nakano has struggled to adapt to the 800cc Honda since joining the team, but his ninth place on the grid in America is his best starting position since he qualified seventh at Jerez.

The Japanese rider has yet to finish above 10th place in 2007, and Montiron is eager to see if Nakano can convert his qualifying result into a strong points finish.

"Shinya put in an impressive last lap but we know that he is able to ride this circuit as he enjoys the layout a lot," Montiron said.

"To be in front of the other satellite Honda riders is important for us, so today Shinya did a good job.

"Tomorrow Shinya needs to confirm his speed in the race.

"The temperature is expected to be higher than now and I think this will be the key point tomorrow. Consistency will be everything tomorrow in the race, so it's good to start near the front and we hope to make as good a start as at the Sachsenring.

"After that, we simply need some good luck to get the good result. We want to be fighting with the top group so we shall see what our pace is."

Nakano was particularly pleased with his qualifying result as he felt he had been hampered by the increased wind in the session.

"I'm happy with ninth as it wasn't a bad lap time overall," he said.

"This morning we were changing the settings to find a good solution, but then in the afternoon the conditions were windy and we also saw more sand on circuit.

"This made it difficult to enter the corners as I wanted, so I lost the front a couple of times but I managed to get a good timed attack lap in, which is what we wanted."