Troubled Capirossi hopes for better race

"We started the qualifying session quite well, I was soon faster on race tyres," said Capirossi.

"But then I took two big risks and nearly lost the front, and given that the crash I had in Qatar was because I lost the front, and we still don't know why, I lost a bit confidence in the front.

"We tried to make some small set-up changes, but with no success, so we have decided to make quite a drastic change for morning warm-up, trying to put more weight on the front."

Capirossi crashed out of fifth place on the sixth lap of the Qatar season-opener, while his teammate Casey Stoner went on to take a commanding win.

The disparity remained in Jerez qualifying, with Stoner taking fifth on the grid, 0.8 seconds quicker than his more experienced partner.

"It's hard: my race pace is as good as the best, it's about the same as them, while in qualifying I didn't manage to get around it because I still don't get the feeling I'm asking in order to ride the bike the way I'd like to take it to its limit," Capirossi told television station Italia1.

"The feeling I lack is always on the front of the bike. This bike is a bit different: I can never find what I need to be quick, so we'll work on that."