Tamada watching Rossi, Biaggi 'annoyed'.

Provisional Sepang pole sitter Makoto Tamada was one of only three riders who failed to improve on their Friday time today, and as a result the Camel Honda star has slipped to fifth on tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix grid.

Tamada was held up by two slower riders on his final fast lap, but was able to successfully complete tyre endurance tests ahead of tomorrow's main event.

"Traffic, a lot of traffic. When I went out for my fast lap to confirm the provisional pole I came up behind two slow riders and I lost the chance," confirmed the double GP winner, when asked why he slipped down the order.

"We can now choose harder (Bridgestone) tyres and still be competitive on endurance and I'm satisfied with this and with the data we have collected from them," he added.

And it's those tyre tests which have left Tamada confident for the race, but aware that world championship leader Valentino Rossi is looking tough to beat.

"Rossi has picked up his rhythm from the off this morning, but now we just need to see if he and the others are capable of keeping it up throughout the race," said Tamada. "In tomorrow's warm-up I will try some more little things and then I will be able to say that I'm ready to go."

"We're confident and it's a similar situation to Motegi, where we (won) the race," stated Tamada's technical director Giulio Bernardelle.

Meanwhile Michelin shod team-mate Max Biaggi was left frustrated once again as a repeat of his pre-season Sepang pace proved elusive. The Roman will start tomorrow's race from seventh on the grid.

"Things went better today, more than anything we made steps forward compared to yesterday, but what is annoying me most is that we can't get to the level of performance we showed in pre-season here, from which we have data on the computer," said Max.

"Starting from this base, and with all the experience I have at this circuit, I hoped for a very different result," he admitted. "As soon as I got my wheels on the track yesterday I realised that the bike was giving me different sensations, above all in braking, where it's really hard work. With the qualifying tyres I only improved by two tenths, which isn't normal either. I don't think I will make any substantial changes though, the set-up is decided and the race tyres too."