Tech3 Yamaha's James Toseland just failed to finish inside the championship top ten at Valencia's MotoGP round and said it was a hard finish to what has been a hard rookie year.

The two-time World Superbike Champion struggled for grip at a track he knows well all weekend and only had 25 minutes of dry practice time. This has been the signature of the whole season with only three meetings being without rain.

“It was a hard race to finish a pretty hard season and while it wasn’t how I wanted to finish on a personal note, it was great that I contributed to the team getting fourth by a point," said the 28-year-old.

"I’m glad I managed to hang on at the end there because I was coming under a lot of pressure. In the first half of the race I was probably a bit quicker than Jorge but I just couldn’t make a pass on him stick. I got him a couple of times but I made mistakes and let him back through. One time I put my hand in the air to apologise for a close move going into the first corner, and as I put my hand back for the second corner I missed my braking marker. So I’m annoyed with myself about
that.

"I was in a real fight at the end and I was just struggling for a bit of grip. We tried quite a big change on the set-up and it worked well for the first half of the race, but towards the end I had to ride a bit defensive and make sure I didn’t lose too many places.

"The team deserve to be fourth in the championship this year and I was determined to help them achieve it. Tech 3 and Yamaha have given me unbelievable support in my rookie year and I was pleased to battle right to the last lap to get that result for them. I have learned a lot in 2008, and I’m looking forward to working hard in the winter and making a big impression next season.”