Zoom James Toseland

Tech 3 Yamaha rider James Toseland produced a masterful exhibition of wet weather riding this afternoon to set one of the fastest times in a rain-lashed second free practice session in Mugello.

The British rider, who was using a new shorter wheelbase set-up for the first time to help improve rear grip, clocked a best time of 2.02.412 to finish just 0.085s behind MotoGP world championship leader and Mugello expert Valentino Rossi.

Toseland led the session for long periods as he took full advantage of a special wet tyre test he took part in at Michelin's Clermont-Ferrand headquarters last week, first moving to the top of the timesheets just before the halfway stage. Toseland was untouchable as conditions worsened with riders fighting to control big straight-line slides as they powered through large patches of standing water at 190mph.

At one stage, Toseland's advantage over the field was an impressive 2.585s, but as the appalling conditions improved towards the end, Toseland was dropped to fifth, and he finished 13th on the combined timesheets after the best times of the day were logged on a drying track this morning.

American Edwards ended the session eighth, though he had been as high as third shortly after the halfway stage as he looks to build on his third place finish in Le Mans. Edwards, who has been on the front row of the grid four times in the opening five races, finished 19th overall after a problematic session this morning.

James Toseland 13th 1.59.899 30 laps
“I'd done a few laps on a MotoGP bike back in 2004 when Ducati gave me a present for winning the World Superbike title, so at least I knew which way the track goes. I've really noticed at the last three races that have been brand new for me that it is a big disadvantage and it was nice to come somewhere a little bit familiar. On a new track I have always felt one step behind and that has been frustrating, but I've got a good set-up now. I've got the shorter wheelbase that the other Yamaha guys have been using and it has given me much more confidence with the rear, especially in the wet conditions. That extra weight on the rear makes a big difference and there's a lot more contact patch and that gives me the confidence to push. I was quite confident in the rain because I was pretty fast on Sunday morning in China, so we've obviously fallen on a good base setting for the rain. I'm really happy with the session and at the end I was a bit disappointed to drop out of the top three. But at one point I thought they would have to stop the session. There was a lot of standing water and one time I was going down the straight pinned in sixth gear and the bike just flicked sideways as I hit the crest. That's when conditions started getting borderline because there was so much water, no wet tyre in the world could disperse it all. Going to Michelin last week was good timing for wet conditions and they have done a great job.”