"The harder tyre brought a bit more chattering with it, but felt OK, and I knew that I would be alright to use if the temperature went up much for the race. Within 5 laps I had done a 1.38.8. About halfway through the session I did a 1.38.2 which put me up to 12th.
"For the last 10 minutes I had a new rear tyre for the final burst. On my first lap I did a 1.37.9, then on my second lap through the first sector I had a red 'pole position' helmet which meant that I was underneath the fastest time (Pedrosa) by what was about 0.02 hundredths of a second through the first check point and then blue 'personal best' helmets through the final 3 sectors and I did a 1.37.4 which was enough for 8th.
"The next lap I did a 137.5, then a 1.37.9, 1.38.0 and then on my last lap a 1.37.8. When I started my last lap I still had P8 on my pit-board and was praying that I could hang on to the second row but in the last 20-seconds Matsudo and Poggiali both piped me by less than half a tenth so I got bumped back to 10th which equalled my best qualifying.
"I was very happy though, because I did that string of consistent laps at the end, which nobody else around me had managed to do. For example Matsudo did lots of 1.40s and 1.41s at the start of the session. Then did 1 lap in the 1.39s and then pulled in the pits. Then did 1 lap in the high 1.38s and more 1.40s. And finally in the last lap did one 1.37.4!
"How he can do this amazes me and my team. At the speed that people go in grands prix it is hard to make up 2 tenths and I can't imagine how much different everything had to be for him in this lap like braking markers etc. Very strange!
"Sunday morning warm up was trouble free. The full tank of fuel didn't alter the bike too much just a bit more pushing on the front when hard on the brakes. I ran with an old rear tyre and did a 1.38.8 which was 8th in the session and left me feeling quite confident for the race.
