Suzuki said Chris Vermeulen's ninth place on the United States Grand Prix grid was a praiseworthy achievement given his discomfort after a heavy crash in morning practice.
The Australian suffered substantial bruising when he had a high side late in the final session, but was cleared to continue competing and duly took the final third row spot.
Although this is Vermeulen's worst MotoGP qualifying result at a track where he usually excels, team boss Paul Denning reckoned he had done well just to keep riding after the accident.
"The grid positions were not what we were looking for, but in the context of what has happened this weekend it is not too bad and we now have a decent base for the race tomorrow," Denning said.
"Chris had a huge crash on a cold tire this morning, which -- unfortunately for them -- was replicated this afternoon by [Jorge] Lorenzo and [Casey] Stoner.
"Although Chris didn't break anything he is heavily knocked about and has done very well to get back out there and push as hard as he did."
Vermeulen said the Suzuki team deserved huge credit for preparing his bike again after the crash.
"I want to thank my crew because they worked so hard between sessions today after I wrecked a bike this morning," he said.
"The crew has done a great job and managed to get the bike ready for this afternoon. I was able to do the lap times very consistently and I think we can do that tomorrow in the race.
"We still need to find a bit more pace to be right at the front, but the front feeling certainly got better today, although we are still looking for a bit more rear grip."
His team-mate Loris Capirossi will start just one place further back in 10th, a result he was pleased with having struggled for pace for much of the weekend.
"I think we tried to do too much in the first two sessions of this weekend and I felt more like a test rider because I really tested everything we had and we never really found anything that worked," said Capirossi.
"Then, this afternoon, we went back to a more standard setting like we have used in the past, and we finally got a rhythm and improved lap by lap. It is still not great and to be 10th on the grid is not that good, but compared to where we were yesterday, and after this morning, it is a lot better."