Team Pedercini found themselves outside of the top sixteen in first qualifying at Monza, but the Kawasaki powered team are still hoping to spring a surprise.
Roberto Rolfo was 18th on Friday after a problem with the ZX-10R halted his progress at the end of Friday's session.
Despite the 0.690s gap to 16th placed Ruben Xaus, the Italian hasn't given up hope of upsetting the odds on Saturday.
“Today we made a lot of improvements with regard to our bike's set up and in the qualifying session I was able to improve on my best lap time by more than one second. Unfortunately, near to the end of the session when I was using the soft tyre I suffered a technical problem during my fastest laps. Now it is easier for me to enter the corners thanks to the work we have done this afternoon. Of course I'm not happy with eighteenth position and tomorrow I want to improve on my lap times to enter the Superpole and to reach a good position on Sunday's starting grid.”
Mark Aitchison finished an excellent tenth in race one at Assen two weeks ago and the Australian had hoped to carry that momentum to Italy.
But the rookie admitted to having some difficulties with the Kawasaki machine on Friday, with braking his major concern.
“I hoped to gain the good feeling from Assen immediately although I found that our bike wasn't working in the same way on this circuit. I need to improve the balance of the bike under heavy braking and for the entry to some corners, but I am confident my team will work hard tonight to resolve our problems. I look forward to getting back out there tomorrow”.
The team will find out if they've made the step needed to catch the midfield in second qualifying tomorrow morning, with the fastest 16 riders advancing to the Superpole shootout.
