"We tried to do something big with the setting today and we started with two very different bikes,” said the Italian veteran. “We never really found the best solution with either bike and went back to the first one and modified that a bit to try and find the best settings for this track.

“On the last run we did improve a bit but we still need to work harder and improve a lot more tomorrow. We still need a bit more grip and although overall things are ok we need to make some big steps in certain places tomorrow."

"For the first session, the laps-times are very good at the front and we've got a lot of work to close the gap,” confessed team manager Paul Denning. “The good news is that neither rider is happy with the bike and they know we can go a lot better. We will be doing what we can to improve the GSV-R and I think we can take some decent steps tomorrow."