Stoner predicts return to form in China

The reigning champion won the opening race of the season at Qatar but could only follow that up with 11th place in Spain and sixth in Portugal. However, he is optimistic he can return to form at Shanghai after going second quickest in practice today.

"It's more comfortable for us here," he said. "The last two races didn't go well in practice but they could have still been two decent results. For a variety of reasons they turned into not so good ones and we couldn't seem to get things right no matter what we did.

"But this weekend we seem to be back in control. The front feel is a lot better here, I'm slowly getting my confidence back, and I think we can continue to do that over the rest of the weekend.

"We struggled last year turning the bike in the fast corners at some tracks and we're still working on that now. We're going to make a couple of big changes to one of the bikes tomorrow and hopefully that can improve the lap time."

Marco Melandri was 14th in practice on the second Ducati when his running was limited by electrical and engine problems.

"Unfortunately we lost a lot of time today, which broke my rhythm and I didn't have time to test tyres," said the Italian.

"But even though were only did a few laps, we know what works here and I'm confident we can improve the bike and the results compared to the last few races."