British MotoGP: Crashes blunt Casey Stoner challenge

Casey Stoner admitted two crashes hit his confidence after he missed the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s British MotoGP race by just 0.044s.

Stoner had already suffered a slow speed tumble at the Melbourne Loop on his out lap this morning when he crashed in more spectacular fashion at McLeans during qualifying this afternoon.

The Aussie lost the front but walked away unscathed from the McLeans crash which forced him to switch to his spare Ducati GP9 that was set-up completely differently to his preferred machine.

Despite his big fall, Stoner still posted the fourth best time with a 1.28.446 just 0.044s away from Fiat Yamaha rival Jorge Lorenzo in third.

Talking about his innocuous crash this morning he said: “This morning was ridiculous. I was off the front brake and I was off throttle and down it went.

“The front tyre was already scrubbed in and there was no reason for it.”

Dissecting what had gone wrong in the second spell he added: “The second one was down to the set-up with too much weight on the front.

“It’s nothing to be worried about because we know the setting at the beginning of the session was working.  This morning was difficult and I was struggling with the set-up a lot.

“I didn’t feel comfortable and for this afternoon we changed the bike quite a bit. For the first part of the session the bike felt good although I was struggling a little bit for grip.

“The bike was turning a lot better and I had a pretty good feeling with most points. But we seemed to have too much pressure on the front-end and I didn’t feel comfortable on it.

“I went into McLeans not as fast as what I had been in there but I completely lost the front. That was the only bike we had in that set-up with that geometry and my second bike was completely different.

“It wasn’t anywhere near what I had on my number one bike, so we just had to get a good qualifying position because I really wasn’t happy with the number two bike set-up.

“I’m pretty happy to get back to where I did and it wouldn’t have taken much extra to get on the front row. I lost a bit of confidence losing the front for no reason this morning and this afternoon it was through set-up.

“I also lost the front going down Craner Curves so I wasn’t really looking forward to pushing too much to get back up the front. Fourth position is the next best to the front row.”

Stoner said he was struggling more physically at the demanding Donington circuit than he did last weekend at the German GP at the Sachsenring.

“This weekend I’m feeling a bit different to the Sachsenring. The weather and the layout of the track in Germany helped me a lot and this weekend I’m finding it a bit more a struggle.

“It’s not hot today but hot enough to get me sweating and I’m slowing down quite quickly after a few laps again. The problem is this weekend I haven’t been able to find a set-up quickly to cut down the laps.

“This is taking its toll having to do more laps than I want to, “said Stoner,

With fatigue creeping in with the more laps he completes, Stoner admitted he was hoping for a wet race tomorrow.

“He is likely to get his wish too with forecasts showing rain at the time of the MotoGP race, which is delayed to 3.30pm UK time to avoid a TV clash with the Hungarian Formula One race.

The 23-year-old said: “A wet race would be better for me. Our wet set-up still needs a bit of work and I need to find a bit more traction.

“To be honest I’m definitely hoping for rain tomorrow.

“I’m just looking to get as many points as possible and in the wet I’ve got more of a chance of getting more points.”

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