Stoner admits set-up struggles

"We knew before we started that this isn't the best circuit for us and we struggled from the first session this morning to find the ideal setting," said Stoner, who was sixth quickest.

"During the first practice we were struggling a lot getting the bike to enter the corner under heavy braking, which we finally fixed this afternoon, but then we started to get a lot more problems in the rear - it was pumping and moving around a lot.

"We went forwards in one area and backwards in another so we need to sort both things out and come up with a new game plan tomorrow.

"We'll concentrate on the front setting first because that was giving us the most problems and then we'll try to fix the rear after that.

"We really don't know what happened with the crash. There was no reason for it. The front's been a little bit nervous all day but not terrible and I just tipped it into the corner, it started to go and there was no way I could save it," added the Australian, who won the season-opening race in Qatar.

Stoner has never finished in the top three at Jerez before.

Teammate Marco Melandri continued to struggle with the Ducati, the Italian only managing the 15th fastest time.

Melandri admitted the set-up he used in Qatar had not worked in Spain.

"It hasn't been an easy day because the settings from the race in Qatar, which I'd had a really good feeling with, haven't worked here," he said.

"We tried to make only a few modifications to find some grip and improve the bike under braking but we're still not managing it. I know this isn't the best circuit for our bike but today I was still hoping to do a lot better.

"All we can do is keep working hard and hope that the weather stays good for tomorrow."