Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow is confident he has the pace to score a top-ten result in tomorrow's Motorland Aragon MotoGP race despite having reduced track time at a circuit he hadn't raced at before yesterday morning.

The former World Supersport Champion ended this afternoon's qualifying session in 12th, three places ahead of team-mate Colin Edwards, but the times are so close, Crutchlow could easily have finished up in sixth or seventh.

“I don't think 12th place on the grid really reflects just how well myself and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team have been performing this weekend. I've come to a new track and pretty much lost a session with all of yesterday's power problems and yet another couple of tenths would have put me in the top six on the grid," he said.

"I am really happy with the way I'm riding and happy with my crew, who have done a great job again this weekend. The times are so close that 12th could quite easily have been sixth or seventh, but I'm still confident that I can race inside the top 10 tomorrow. It is going to be difficult because we've got a bit of a speed issue on the straight.

"I'm really strong in three sections of the track but in the last sector I'm a long way down the split times and that makes it quite difficult. It is not going to be easy to pass people but I'll get my head down and push as hard as I can to do the best job possible. The goal as always will be the top 10 and I'm looking forward to a good battle and picking up more valuable points."