The 37-year-old Brazilian turned heads by claiming the third fastest time during final practice, then took seventh on the grid in the afternoon qualifying hour.

"Today I'm very happy, because since the morning I have had a good rhythm, riding well in the dry and in the wet," said Alex. "This is my best qualifying position of the season, and I hope to make a good start and fight with those in the first positions. The wind didn't bother me so much today, but for tomorrow everything is still a little bit up in the air, because we don't know if it will be a wet or dry race. In any case, I feel like I've got a lot of potential to do well here tomorrow."

'New' team-mate Chaz Davies was less content, the Briton - 17-years younger than Barros - finishing his second ever MotoGP qualifying session in 17th and he will start between MotoGP race winners Chris Vermeulen and Toni Elias.

"It was hard with rear end handling problems causing me trouble especially coming onto the start and finish," explained Davies. "We got it better with the qualifying tyre but know we have work with the race tyre in the warm-up tomorrow, I just hope it stays dry."