Vermeulen pleased with test progress

Suzuki have not featured at the top of the timesheets during the winter, and were two seconds off the pace in 14th and 15th positions on the first evening of the Losail test.

But Vermeulen believes they made substantial progress on Friday.

"It was good night of testing here in Qatar," he said. "I think we have taken the most steps in a test so far this year with the 2008 GSV-R, so in that respect I am really happy.

"We took our lap time forward by over a second consistently so that puts us in a better position for the race next week."

Team boss Paul Denning agreed that Friday night had seen an important step forward.

"Yesterday was very difficult and we didn't achieve anything close to what we'd hoped for - or what the riders and GSV-R should be capable of," he said.

"We made big steps today towards unlocking the full potential of the 2008 bike, with Chris in particular being able to find a rhythm and run in the low 1:56s on race tyres, which is much closer to the front-running pace."

Capirossi had a heavy accident during the session but was able to rejoin on his spare bike.

He was pleased with his findings from the test despite admitting that he had attempted to fit too many changes into the evening.

"I think I lost a bit too much time today because I tested too many things," Capirossi said.

"I tried three different engines and maybe was a bit confused with all the different options, but it was really important to do it.

"The good thing is that we now really understand where we need to be, but we will still have to work hard to get there.

"I also lost time because I had a big crash, but luckily I wasn't hurt and could carry on. Really this has been quite a good test because we have learnt many things."