Stoner surprised by his performance

The championship leader had been fastest in every session held so far this weekend, and claimed pole position with his first qualifying tyre run.

Stoner has long insisted that his 2007 success has not just been down to Ducati's superior power, but he admitted that he was unsure how the bike would perform at the twisty Sachsenring.

"I really didn't expect to have this kind of form at this circuit," Stoner told BBC television.

"It's difficult to know how the Ducati would go round here - it is pretty much the tightest track on the calendar - but it seems to be working perfectly for me.

"It was just a matter of putting on the qualifying tyres. I managed to do my best time with my first set of qualifiers. My second one would have been a bit better, but I ran a little bit wide and lost the time. Anyway, we managed to keep it."

So far this season no-one has managed to convert a pole position into a victory, but Stoner is not concerned about this statistic.

He pointed out that the last pole-to-flag winner was Ducati rider Loris Capirossi in Japan last year.

"The last person (to win from pole) was on a Ducati, so I don't think there's any problem," Stoner said.

The Australian added that he is much better prepared than in his previous 2007 pole start at Mugello, where he had been unable to refine his dry set-up in wet practice and struggled on race day.

"The last time I was on pole going into a dry race, we weren't really in that good a position," said Stoner.

"Now we know we've got a good race set-up and we'll just have to see how everybody else cuts it tomorrow."