Top ten start for improved Toseland

After a difficult winter testing campaign and a frustrating first race in Qatar Monster Yamaha Tech3’s James Toseland showed that his determination remains as strong as ever on Friday in Japan, as he featured in the top six for the majority of the first free practice session.

Fine-tuning a new front fork set-up to help with braking stability, Toseland finally ended up tenth but was pleased with his progress.

James Toseland - 10th

“That was a bit more like it. Right to the end I was looking good to be around the top six but I caught (Yuki) Takahashi on my last lap when the tyre was working pretty good, so I'm sure I could have got into the 1.49s. My guys have done a great job because I had a slightly different setting on the front fork today to get a bit more control under braking. This place is all about hard braking and that is an area I've needed to work on. I've got a bit more control on initial braking so it doesn't upset the bike as much when I'm turning in. I ran most of the session on the hard tyre with the weather not looking too good for tomorrow, but I did try the softer one at the end just to check on it. I doubt we'd be able to run it in the race, even if the temperature is quite low. So if it rains tomorrow and it's dry for the race, at least I know I'll run the harder tyre. It was a difficult first race but we're not losing motivation and my team have all stuck together. Rain or shine I'm determined to get a good result for them and Yamaha in their home race.”