Vermeulen expected tough race

The Le Mans winner held onto second on the opening lap before being edged down the order, but he felt his pace improved later in the race.

"I got a decent start and followed (Casey) Stoner early on, but I just couldn't hang in there with the top group," Vermeulen said.

"I got passed by a couple of guys and to be truthful I was a bit inexperienced with the circuit.

"I went down the field and my times dropped off quicker than everyone else, although at the end they were quite similar.

"We got some good points and eighth is pretty good from a track that we knew was going to be hard work. Hopefully now we can go to some circuits that are a bit more familiar to us and get back up there challenging."

Team manager Paul Denning said Vermeulen should be pleased that he was running with leading MotoGP names in his second full season since moving up from Superbikes.

"Chris is still a relative newcomer to Mugello and couldn't quite hang with the pace early on," said Denning.

"He certainly learnt a lot out there and got into a good rhythm, he managed to tough it out in the last few laps to pass (Nicky) Hayden and (Marco) Melandri.

"These are big names on factory bikes, and although eighth is not where Chris wants to be he can take a lot from this race as we head to Barcelona."