Stoner says title still too far away

The reigning champion had endured a run of frustrations since winning in Qatar at the start of the year, but moved back up to third in the championship by winning last weekend's British Grand Prix.

However, Stoner still trails championship leader Valentino Rossi by 45 points and is 34 points adrift of second-placed Dani Pedrosa, and thinks that gap is probably too large for him to think about overturning in the second half of the season.

"We're not really in a position to worry about the championship at the moment," said Stoner. "That's for these two (Rossi and Pedrosa) to worry about at the moment, not me. Maybe at the end of the season if we can try and gain some points, it will be great."

But Rossi believes Stoner's Donington performance shows that he cannot be discounted as a title threat - and that Yamaha must raise their game to keep him at bay.

"The championship is very long, and Casey is not out of the game for sure," Rossi said. "We know we have to be very strong. Our pace and rhythm in all the races is good - we have a lot of podiums in a row, a lot of good races and three victories - but we have to try to make the bike better."

The championship top three have now monopolised the podium positions for three straight races, and Stoner feels their consistent advantage over the rest of the field will make it hard for him to close in.

"At the moment, when all three of us seem to be getting all the podiums, it's very difficult to gain an advantage even when you do take a victory," he said.

"So I think there might be a bits of points swapping, but maybe not too much change. It would be nice to try and do more races like this, but we can only do our best and see what happens at the end."

Stoner's Donington resurgence came after successful changes to the Ducati's engine management system at the Catalunya post-race test. Having made that breakthrough, he now expects to be a regular victory contender again.

"This whole weekend has been a big step for us," he said. "It's been very nice that when we do push hard, the lap times come a lot easier than they have been in previous races. It's been a very nice feeling - I can really have a lot of fun and not make as many mistakes.

"I think now with this new engine management system we can definitely try to improve our results a bit and maybe give them more of a fight."

He admitted that he will be anxious to see if the set-up changes work just as well for Ducati at Assen next week.

"I think we'll be like that as almost all the tracks going on for the rest of the year - just hoping it works at all the circuits," Stoner said. "It's mainly just to smooth the bike down and keep it from bucking and weaving everywhere. It's what we've been missing."