MotoGP news

Stoner disappointed with fourth place

Ducati rider Casey Stoner will start Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix from fourth position. The Australian was disappointed to qualify fourth fastest after dominating the early stages of the session, only to suffer some set up problem in the final half hour that prevented him from challenging for pole position.

Stoner's best time of 2.01.455 came on just his seventh lap of eighteen, when he was riding the hardest compound on tyres which had, respectively 25 laps on the front and 14 on the rear, whilst by comparison the eventual pole time came from Valentino Rossi on his twentieth lap.

"I'm really disappointed with that session because I know we could and should have been fighting for pole position," Stoner said. "I had a much better feeling with the setting at the start of the session but midway through we went to change tyres and after that we suffered from a huge vibration in the bike. We still haven't worked out what it is yet so we need to figure it out and fix it for tomorrow.

"I tried the softer compound but the chattering was even worse. I swapped to my other bike but we had a different setting in it that I hadn't tried and I didn't feel comfortable. Everything that could go wrong in the crucial second part of the session did go wrong but if we can fix this problem then we'll be in good shape for tomorrow. Anyway I'm happy with my pace in race conditions and I look forward to tomorrow."

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