Stoner happy with second in testing
Added on Friday, April 24th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Stoner happy with second in testing
Casey Stoner was not too worried that he finished this Friday’s three practice in second position at Motegi and believes that the weather will play an important part over the course of the weekend.
The 2007 champion posted a time of 1:48.601 in the early stages of Friday’s practice, less than six one-hundredths of a second over the time set by title rival Valentino Rossi.
Stoner spent comparatively little time out on the Twin Ring during the session and speaking afterwards, seemed to be more than happy with where he and the Ducati team stood ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying.
“We’re not too far from setting some very decent lap times and considering how cold it was this afternoon I think everything has gone as well as we could have expected.
“It looks as though the weather forecast is not good for tomorrow so this session might not turn out to be so important in terms of qualifying, but then if it’s dry again on Sunday it could turn out to be crucial.
“In general the bike feels quite good – we need to try and find a bit more grip on the rear and we have a few ideas that we think could work – but now it’s just a case of seeing what the heavens throw at us tomorrow and dealing with that as best we can.”
