Team pleased with Nakano's pace

Earlier this week Montiron urged Nakano to take a more aggressive approach to the Portuguese Grand Prix, having failed to finish above 10th all season.

The Japanese rider was ninth in this morning's first session before falling to 14th later on, but Montiron was satisfied with his efforts.

"Today I think the rhythm was so much better from Shinya and he was also very consistent," he said.

"Obviously looking at the times we need to be faster, but it was very positive to see that he was able to make consistent lap times today in both sessions. It's also good to see that here in Estoril our Michelin tyres seem to work quite well.

"Tomorrow we think that Shinya could make another move forward and could be in a good position overall after tomorrow afternoon's qualifying session. I
would like our target to be in the first two rows for the qualifying practice. So top eight is our goal."

Nakano said progress with the rear Michelin tyre was the main reason for his progress.

"This has been a good Friday for us. This morning was very positive and so was the afternoon, although there wasn't much of a difference in actual position compared to our other Fridays," he said.

"The improvement is that I'm getting a much better feeling with the rear tyre. This is a big improvement and it helps me keep up my corner speed. I enjoy this track and I hope to make more improvements tomorrow.

"We already have a good feeling with race tyres and we've found two or three that are pretty good and could be potential race tyres for Sunday afternoon."