Marlboro Ducati's Valentino Rossi has equalled his best MotoGP qualifying of the season so far, bagging seventh place in yesterday's Laguna Seca session with the help of some more tweaks to the balance of the bike.

The Doctor snuck past team-mate Nicky Hayden and satellite Ducati man Hector Barbera using a soft Bridgestone right at the end of a session that saw small setup changes find more and more pace.

“In the morning we made a change to the balance that helped me to find more grip with the soft tyre, as well as a feeling that was generally better. In the afternoon though, with the warmer temperature and the hard tyre, I didn’t have the same performance and feeling," said Rossi.

"During the session we were able to change the settings again and make a small step, and when we put on the soft, we did a time that was good enough for the third row. Seventh place actually equals my best qualifying spot of the season.

"That was our goal, to be able to start further forward than we have lately, but for the race we must improve our pace again with the hard tyres because it’s a little too difficult now and the rear is sliding a lot. We’re focused and we’re working very hard so we’ll see if we can take another step forward.”