Tech 3 upbeat after strong qualifying

Colin Edwards will start fourth and only just missed out on a front row spot when Dani Pedrosa jumped to second at the end of the session. The American scored his best grid slot since the Sachsenring race and is confident he can help Tech 3 to secure fourth place in the teams' championship.

"We've had a couple of issues in the rain and thankfully our prayers for a dry track this afternoon were answered and it worked out good," said Edwards.

"The change we made with the offset in Sepang has given me a lot of confidence with the front end and I can really push with the extra grip of the qualifier. I got fifth on the grid in Malaysia and fourth here, so it shows the improvement was a big step because it was a real struggle to get close to the front row before that.

"I'll settle for what I've got because I think we can put on a good show for the team tomorrow and secure that fourth place, we all want to end on a high."

James Toseland will start next to Edwards on the grid in fifth place - his second top five qualifying performance in the last three rounds - and was pleased with his late effort after being blocked by Marco Melandri on his penultimate qualifying run.

"I'm really happy to be on the second row because I had to pull a lap out under pressure after Melandri had baulked me at the last corner," said Toseland.

"I thought he was going to start a fast lap, but as we came out of the final corner he didn't really do anything. That was a bit disappointing but I had to deliver on my last qualifier. When you know it's the last tyre, you know you can't afford to make a mistake.

"I really want to end the season on a high. I've had flashes of brilliance and some disappointing results in my rookie season, so hopefully I've got one more flash in me tomorrow. It would be good to go into the winter positive for 2009."