"It has been very satisfying to arrive fourth on this first day of qualifying considering that I had no experience of this track until this morning," said Tamada. "We are still using the basic set up we developed at the
Jerez test, making just some adjustments and today we have been able to focus on the track and tyres. We still have some margins of improvement and we'll try to reach them to be really performing for the races."
But while Tamada was only 0.4secs from Max Neukirchner and provisional pole, team-mate
Regis Laconi was a troubled 13th.
"I cannot say that this round has started in the best way for me," said the Frenchman. "I had grip problems on full lean and this restricted my performance. It's difficult to accept this result considering how things went last season on this track. Surely it's an incentive for me to work harder and find the solution which is to obtain a set up that gives more stability to the bike."
