Ducati Xerox Team riders Régis Laconi and James Toseland were on the pace in today's opening qualifying session in sweltering heat at Misano (air 30°/track 49°). Laconi was third quickest today with a time of 1m36.012s, three-tenths off the provisional pole mark, while Toseland was two places further back with a time of 1m36.384s.

"I am quite happy with my time" declared Laconi. "We did a good job for the settings in the afternoon. The heat was not making the grip worse, I was surprised about that because I thought there would be a lot less grip in the afternoon. We improved the front and the rear and tried the new big 200mm rear tyre and it was OK. I just feel so good on the bike, and the heat too was making it not too hard to ride. The race will not be easy but it's physically it's OK. I used the qualifying tyre in the end but my first pass was not perfect and I know I can do better".

"I'm quietly confident" declared Toseland. "Everything was going well until I put a qualifier in and got caught up in a traffic jam at the final corner with five guys spread out in front of me! I tried a new front just before the qualifier but didn't push that much because the rear was not that good and then with the qualifier it let go a couple of times. My race times are good and I feel really comfortable. The larger rear tyre is the way to go here at Misano, because on just the three lefts it gives you more drive grip than the narrower tyre which doesn't have as much contact space as the wider profile. Physically the heat is going to be an issue on Sunday but I'm quietly confident about that as well".