James Toseland felt he could have been in the top six in practice at Mugello today had he not been slowed by an arm pump problem.
The Briton developed the uncomfortable arm condition after struggling with his set-up early in the session. He eventually took 11th place on his Tech 3 Yamaha.
"It was really difficult to change direction with the setting I had at the start and it gave me arm pump and I never suffer with that," said Toseland.
"But because I was forcing the bike with my arms at the beginning of the session, once I'd got arm pump I couldn't get rid of it. Without that I'm sure the package I had was capable of going another three of four tenths quicker and that would put me in the top six."
He felt that the physical problem had masked his potential, as he had no complaints at all about his machine.
"I'm optimistic and confident for the rest of the weekend because the time I lost was with my arm problem and not the bike, so I'm really looking forward to getting out there tomorrow and doing a good job," Toseland said.
He added that he was also relieved to have performed well using a tyre compound he had not run up since the massive testing crash in Malaysia that hampered his 2009 season build-up.
"The last time I was on that was in Sepang in testing when I had my big crash," said Toseland. "So to be half a second off fifth place on that tyre, I guess we're friends again."