Repsol Honda's Jonathan Rea made the entire MotoGP paddock sit up and take notice during qualifying at Misano today, breaking into the top ten in his first dry session of the weekend to end up just 1.5s off the pace of team-mate and veteran Dani Pedrosa.

But the young Irishman has already identified where he is struggling on the RC213V and will go back to the garage tonight to pore over more data. Rea says he needs to modify the way he brakes more to load the Bridgestone tyre but to alter the way his brain works too.

"I still don't have the confidence to push 100 per cent but I can push for a laptime so for me it was just learning. The problem for me was the dive speed at the front was so fast we put a harder fork spring in the front but then I brake even harder and had the same problem," said Rea, talking to bikesportnews.com.

"My braking style has to be a bit more progressive at the beginning. The main learning will be done tonight when we look at the data and compare it to the other riders to see what areas I really struggle.

"You come into corners at 200kph and you're trying to stop the thing, your brain says, 'Just do this' but you can't. I keep holding the brake but it's so difficult. I know what to do but I can't as it still feels so new and different.

"It was all step-by-step. I picked stuff up myself. In the first laps, I was with some CRTs and they were dropping me – I couldn't gauge off anybody. I did pretty much the whole session by myself but the data said I picked up a bit more corner speed and the connection with the throttle where I am getting more confident."