Stoner: “We’re starting from a stronger base than last year”

Casey Stoner was the second fastest rider of the second official MotoGP test of the year at the Sepang International Circuit which finished on Friday, and the Australian’s feedback on the Desmosedici GP10 of the Ducati Marlboro team was extremely positive.

Stoner’s lap of 2’00.512 from 33 laps on Friday was an improvement on his Thursday time, and left him feeling positive ahead of the final pre-season test in Qatar from March 18-19.

“When we first went out this morning the track conditions were a huge improvement on yesterday thanks to the slightly cooler temperatures, which meant the track was less slippery,” he said. “That allowed us to get the best out of the bike and we were able to set some fast times. We started out with the same setting we finished with yesterday, which I already liked, and we changed just a couple of things and were able to immediately set a strong pace. It is just a shame that the red flag came out right after we put the new medium tyre on. I missed out on a few laps because of that but it wasn’t a big deal.”

Stoner added: “We are really satisfied with the package we have now and the progress we have made so far. If you ask me I’d say we are starting off from a stronger base than last year so now we’ll just have to wait and see if we can get straight on the pace in Qatar.”