Valentino Rossi has admitted Yamaha’s pace in Buriram is a surprise to the team as much as anybody else, as he managed to qualifying on the front row ahead of tomorrow’s 27-lap MotoGP race.

The Italian qualified 18th two weeks ago in Aragon and despite minimal changes, Rossi said that nobody was expecting the bike to work so well here, especially after struggling in the pre-season test in Thailand.

“It’s a surprise also for us,” said the nine-time world champion. “In the test we were quite in trouble in this track.

“But we arrived yesterday and feel not so bad in the practice. When you start with a good level, it looks like our bike this time makes the tyre work in a good way; it’s more easy to make the right decision.

“Today we worked well with the team; we followed in the right way. From the morning to the afternoon I improved a lot, also my pace. In the end it’s a shame to lose the pole by a small distance, but considering in the last races I always start from the fourth or fifth row – in Aragon I was in eighteenth, it’s a great result for a Saturday.”

Despite the better pace this weekend, Rossi doesn’t think that all of Yamaha’s woes have suddenly been solved, and that this weekend the circuit and hard casing Michelins have helped them.

“From Aragon, in reality, we modify something but the bike is very similar,” he said.

“So maybe it’s a better marriage between the tyre, the M1 and this track. From yesterday to today we worked hard, we tried to improve the balance and create more grip and I’m not so bad.

“I feel good, because I’m not so bad in braking, and I am happy to start in the front row but I am also so happy with my pace in FP4, because also with the race tyre I am quite strong. Now we have to confirm tomorrow because you never know and try to make a good race and fight for the podium.”

Yamaha have recently moved electronics guru Michele Gadda over from their WorldSBK team in order to try and help solve the MotoGP issues. Rossi said that Gadda’s addition shows that Yamaha are trying harder.

“In the last period, Yamaha had some new engineer, one is Gadda and this is something coming from the new group of work,” said Rossi.

“So looks like Yamaha tried to put more effort. This is what we need to try and fight with Honda and Ducati.”