Stoner aiming for podium after positive QP

Casey Stoner targeted a return to the podium after qualifying in third spot for Sunday’s race at Misano, and the Ducati Team rider was satisfied with the improved feeling on his machine during qualifying.

The 24 year-old did not feel happy with the performance of his Desmosedici GP10 in the opening practice session on Friday, but some modifications on Saturday morning brought about a noticeable improvement for Stoner.

“We definitely found something for the bike today,” he said. “This morning we went back to the old fork and immediately we knocked a second off the lap time and then we worked even better this afternoon.”

Stoner had set the fastest lap of qualifying after 20 minutes before he crashed, but was not discouraged by the fall and went back out to finish the session third.

“We tried something different in bike one, which I didn’t feel comfortable with, but bike two in general felt better and I immediately made a fast lap,” he explained. “When I wanted to try to improve my lap time a little bit I was trying to carry a bit more corner speed and lost the front in a small corner. Anyway, I’m not worried - we just have to improve the front feeling, especially with the number one bike because I had a better feeling with the second one today even though I crashed it.”

Overall Stoner is more confident with how his prototype is functioning following qualifying and is aiming for a return to the podium in tomorrow’s race.

“In general the bike is working a lot better here than it was at faster tracks so we are more comfortable for the race tomorrow and we will see what we can do. We don’t know how the weather is going to be but we are looking for a podium,” he concluded.