Brno MotoGP: James Toseland slumps to 14th

James Toseland gave himself a mountain to climb in tomorrow’s 22-lap Czech Republic MotoGP after he could only qualify in 14th position.

The 28-year-old blamed set-up issues once he switched to the softer compound Bridgestone slick tyres for his failure to finish higher than the fifth row.

The double World Superbike champion logged a best time of 1.58.331 to finish less tan 0.4s away from the top ten, but the Yorkshireman was bitterly frustrated.

He said: “Obviously I’m not happy to be down in 14th and being that far back is going to make it a tough race.

“I’m frustrated because we changed the bike for the last soft tyre and I didn’t have the rear grip I needed to push for a better time.

“I had a lot of wheelspin with the final soft tyre so I couldn’t really push and I’ve given myself a hard job for the race.

“We’ll try and make the bike more balanced for the race tomorrow because at the moment I don’t have enough rear grip.

“I’ve qualified outside of the top ten a couple of times before this season and been able to fight my back into the top ten during the race.

“So I’m hoping to be able to do the same tomorrow.”