Stoner aims to beat bogey track

The reigning world champion, who placed a distant fifth in last year's Spanish Grand Prix on one of only four occasions when he finished off the podium in 2007, says his Ducati GP8 and Bridgestone's tyres should be significantly more competitive at the track 12 months on.

"You could say that Jerez last year wasn't one of our best races, but winter testing went well there and with the general improvements we've made since last year I think we can be competitive next weekend," he said.

"We worked well with the Bridgestone technicians there and tested a lot of different types of tyre, so we should be well prepared to pick the right one for the race."

But while the 22-year-old Australian expects his own package to be faster than it was last year, he also acknowledges that some of his competitors have improved too.

"There are a lot of riders who have started the season strongly, especially the rookies, amongst them riders who will want more of the same and riders racing at home, so they'll be very motivated," said Stoner. "We just have to try and make sure we do our job well and then try to achieve the best result possible."

Teammate Marco Melandri, who has failed to match the pace of Stoner since joining the factory Ducati team, is hoping that the huge amount of testing he did at Jerez over the winter will help him improve on the distant 11th place he recorded in Qatar.

"Jerez is one of the circuits where we did a lot of testing in the winter and where we tried a lot of different set-up solutions," he said. "It is quite a demanding circuit but for me the first race was very important to understand certain things, more than we'd managed during the tests.

"I definitely have to decide on a direction during practice and follow it without making too many modifications so that we're ready when the moment arrives to put in a qualifying tyre.

"Starting closer to the front gives you the chance to be fast from the first laps, something we couldn't do in Qatar. The first race certainly wasn't at the level we want to be at but there were positives to take out of it, especially in the second half, so we have to keep working because we can and must improve."

Ducati's MotoGP project director Livio Suppo added: "We're also expecting an improved performance from Marco, who we think learnt a lot in the first race. There is no doubting his talent - it is only three races since the penultimate round of 2007 at Sepang when he produced an outstanding display to finish second behind Casey.

"Now, with the improved feeling he found with the Desmosedici during the race in Qatar, I'm sure the results will start to come for him too."