On the Ducati’s chances in the race:

“We still definitely need to make some improvement before the race tomorrow but in general the bike’s been good in all conditions, wet and dry, it’s been handling quite well. In the past we’ve had an advantage at this circuit, we’ve had very good traction on these long corners, and it’s something we’ve kind of lost this year, but we’re working on the bike and it’s slowly getting better and better. So hopefully tomorrow we can make another step and definitely get it sort of where we want to be.”

On being back in contention:

“It’s great to come back: we’ve had a torrid season, it’s been a disaster, and it’s nice to come back in these two races and be competitive again. It’s a lot more competitive than we’ve been all season and it’s nice to be back up front again. If we can get a few good results towards the end of the season like Portugal then we’re going to be happy.”

On his current fitness level:

“The more we’re getting back to my fitness I realise that we’ve had this problem a lot longer than even I thought, definitely longer than Catalunya. We know we’ve had it all season once we start thinking back about it, how hard training was compared to what it used to be. We’re actually starting to think it may have started last year. I haven’t trained properly in almost 12 months: I had the wrist operation so I couldn’t train for a long time then, so the level that my fitness is coming back up to, I’m hoping that it’s going to surpass anything I’ve done so far and hopefully for next year we’ll be fitter and stronger.”

On what might have been:

“We had the pace this year to try and fight for the championships and especially those five races when I wasn’t right – that’s when our bike was, and that was the hardest time for us. But we’ve got to look onwards and upwards, get ourselves ready for next year and another fight.”

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha, 2nd on grid):

On his race preparations:

“It’s a very good weekend, especially compared to Portugal: we started in a good way from yesterday and I feel good with the bike. Today we make some modifications; I am also quite fast in the wet so we are quite ready also for the wet conditions and it’s so important. I am happy about the qualifying practice because we worked well with the bike and at the end we fixed a good setting for tomorrow. Unfortunately I didn’t make the pole position for just a bit, but anyway I am fast, I feel good with the bike, and in all the sessions it’s not so bad. It will be a tough race but it looks like we are ready.”

On what’s more important: winning the race or managing his title lead:

“Ah, the first part is for sure the championship. This weekend it looks like Jorge is a little bit in trouble – he’s fourth but he’s quite far, especially from me and Casey so the first part is to arrive in front of him, but you know, difficult to decide before. We need to understand what’s happened in the race, how the start is and it looks like it’s possible also to fight for the victory, so this is good. It’s difficult because when you ride especially here in Phillip Island at a high speed you don’t have a lot of room in the brain for making calculations with the points!”

Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 3rd on grid):

On his qualifying crash:

“I just touched the front brake and I don’t know if it was the wind but I just crashed. I was lucky to not be injured and then I came back, took the other bike and tried to finish the session. The ones who have to start thinking are Valentino and Jorge, no, so I just try to make my race and do the best possible.”

250cc pole-sitter Raffaele de Rosa (Honda):

“I am very happy with this first 250 pole and tomorrow I hope to do better than we did in Estoril. We need to take care because Simoncelli, Bautista and Aoyama are going for the title so I will try to enjoy it and do my best. We’ve been told (he and team-mate Aoyama) to do our own race, be careful and not give each other any problems.”

125cc pole-sitter Pol Espargaro (Derbi):

On his current rich vein of form:

“Now we have a very good feeling with the team, with my people. The problem is that there are just three races more, that is the problem! Anyway we will take the victory if we can.”

On his family’s delight at his and brother Aleix’s success:

“My family is now very, very happy for us. Aleix is in a very good moment, he will be in MotoGP with Pramac on a Ducati, he is very happy for me and for his future so the family is now … perfect!”