Stoner already confident for race

The championship leader was slightly frustrated despite being fastest in first practice, but was happier with the performance of his Bridgestone-shod Ducati in the afternoon.

"I don't know why but we got a little bit confused with the settings and went backwards this morning, so I wasn't overly confident," said Stoner.

"The time we had on the track this afternoon was very positive, we managed to get everything sorted and towards the end of the session I was feeling quite confident with a different tyre we had chosen.

"It looks like we've found our race tyre already, it's the hardest compound we've got, we did the fastest lap on that tyre, so we know it's going to last the race, which is good. We're looking very good if the weather plays up again tomorrow."

Stoner's only complaint was with the track layout itself - which was shortened from 3.7 miles to 2.8 miles prior to the 2006 race.

"There's no big g-force areas anymore, they've pretty much destroyed an awesome racetrack," he said.

"It's so disappointing, you keep thinking 'where's the old one gone?' It's not the most fun to ride anymore. But we've still got a job to do here."

The Australian's teammate Loris Capirossi was less content after finishing practice in 11th, 0.7 seconds off Stoner's pace.

He had experimented with Bridgestone's new 16 inch rear tyre, but achieved his best times on the standard 16.5 inch rubber.

"We tested some tyres today but have yet to find what we really want," said Capirossi.

"I tried the 16 but I was lacking rear grip into the corners, especially through the last part of the track. At the end of the afternoon session I tried the 16.5 again, it felt better and I did my best lap at the end, even though the bike settings weren't ideal for the tyre.

"Seven tenths isn't a small gap but we have a good margin for improvement with the set-up. In general, I feel okay and if tomorrow's weather is similar to today's, we should be make a few changes and go faster."