Stoner expects another tough weekend

Securing his best ever result at Jerez last time out Casey Stoner this weekend arrives at another ‘bogey’ track, determined to improve his record on French soil.

Stoner’s third place finish at the 2007 Grand Prix de France is his only podium in any class of racing at Le Mans and last year he came home 16th.

Indeed the 2008 contest was a highly complicated one for the Australian – and his first non-scoring ride with Ducati - after his bike slowed with mechanical problems and he came in to change to his second machine, on different tyres, as the race had been declared ‘wet’.

However, Stoner will hope for a more straightforward race on Sunday and having boosted his confidence with his first ever Jerez podium at round three, he is confident of rising to the French challenge at round four.

“We’re on the back of two races that have really put us to the test but we’ve come out of them with decent results,” stated Stoner, who sits second in the standings on 54 points. “Both Motegi and Jerez have characteristics that give us a few problems, especially the tight corners where our bike isn’t as reactive as usual.”

“Even Le Mans is like that in a couple of places, it is not a fast and flowing track – on the contrary, it’s the classic stop and go layout that requires good braking, although you can take some nice, fun and fast lines on the way out of the turns. We’ll see what we’re capable of when we get there and how many points we’re able to bring home.”

Looking further down the line the Ducati star added, “It is going to be a long, open season. We’ve seen that with three winners and three championship leaders from the first three races and the fact that there are four of us within just a few points at the top. There is no point making predictions, the important thing is to continue working well and make sure we pick up as many points as possible in these races where we know it will be tough to come away with the ideal result.”