The Fiat Yamaha team-mates were separated by just 0.015secs on Friday - with Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa squeezed in between - as home hero Edwards claimed the fourth fastest time, with title contender Rossi sixth.

It was thus a broadly positive day, but the leading Michelin riders will need a further jump in performance in order to pressure Stoner and second fastest Marco Melandri.

"Stoner and Melandri are looking pretty strong so we need to close the gap to them tomorrow," confirmed Edwards. "It's fun being back out on this track again and the 800 feels good around here. The [new] track surface is fantastic compared to last year; there are still a few too many bumps around turn nine but otherwise it's pretty smooth."

"The new surface is much, much better; quite smooth with only a few bumps and it seems almost like a different track!" agreed Rossi, who will start Sunday's race 32 points behind Stoner. "I'm very happy about this because last year it was really a nightmare and almost impossible to ride. Now we can have fun! I think the new 800s are better for this; you can use all of the track and the best lines.

"Today we've been quite fast from the start and our bike seems to be working well here. It seems that we have a good selection of tyres, we started with something quite soft and we'll need something a little bit harder for the race, but anyway I think the situation so far is quite good.

"It's a tricky track but I enjoyed today a lot. It's always great fun to race here, the fans are great and the weather is good! We have some more work to do tomorrow of course and we need to improve our pace in comparison to the leaders, but we have made a good start," he concluded.