Overnight the Tech 3 team produced softer settings for the Yamaha, and Toseland rethought his riding strategy, with the result that he hacked nearly 1.5 seconds from his lap time overnight. After 26 minutes in the qualifying session he was actually third fastest on the track, and with a little over three minutes remaining he was still sixth fastest, and looking for a second-row start.
"From yesterday to today the difference is incredible," he said after climbing from the bike. "I must learn to be more patient. I was very frustrated at the end of yesterday because we had taken the wrong direction in the bike setting.
"Overnight I thought about how I needed to work the track, and we came out with a much better setting this morning. We improved it again with a bigger front tyre that Coin had been trying, and that improved the front grip."
JT only scored four pole positions in his seven-year career in World Superbikes. "But it's really important to get to grips with qualifying in
MotoGP," he said. "Seventh is where we need to be. I'm on the third row, and I'm on the left side of the grid, which gives me the best approach to the first corner, a right-hander."
His finishing positions so far have been: sixth, sixth, seventh and 12th. Expect him to reverse that trend tomorrow.
Saturday pm - Okada Will Race Pneumatic Honda at Mugello!
Honda HRC test rider Tadayuki Okada is to race the Japanese factory's experimental pneumatic-valve engine in the Italian MotoGP round at Mugello on June 1.
The sensational news about one of the most talked-about motors in MotoGP was announced at Le Mans today when a wild-card entry for Okada, 41, was finally confirmed for the Italian event, the next one on the calendar.
Repsol Honda factory riders
Dani Pedrosa and
Nicky Hayden have relied on existing valve-spring engines this year while Okada has conducted extensive on-track tests in Japan on the pneumatic-valve motor to prove its power and reliability.
