Casey Stoner admits he is struggling with set-up issues in Brno

While Pedrosa has been a dominant force so far in the Czech Republic, Stoner had at least beaten Lorenzo - whom he leads by 20 points in the championship - in every session up until qualifying.

The Australian was unhappy with the balance of his bike however, reporting problems generating heat in his rear tyres that he felt lost him valuable time.

"We're struggling a little bit," Stoner said. "We weren't really happy with the way the bike felt - we just didn't have feeling in the front and along with that we didn't have any grip in the rear.

"Today we tried to get that little bit of feeling in the front, and we got that improved slightly. As soon as we tried to improve the grip at the rear however we just started to have chattering at the front.

"The faster I went the more chattering we got, and that of course made me go a little bit slower - it was a little bit difficult."

Despite his apparent struggles, Stoner said there is still time to find a solution as he hopes to capitalise on his front row starting berth.

"All in all to end up on the front row, a reasonably good starting position for tomorrow, we're pretty happy," he added. "We know its a long race and we've got time tomorrow."