Stoner can still win title, says Ducati

The 2007 world champion was still in with a chance for victory at the Sachsenring until five laps to the end of the race, before settling for fourth and letting the Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa's Honda take the podium placings.

But it was an improvement on the previous three races, when the Australian was forced to give up the fight much earlier because of health problems.

"We carry on believing in the title," Suppo told Italia1 television. "Casey is one of those four phenomenal riders, and the bike has improved greatly.

"It's clear that Casey was coming from three extremely difficult races, at the end of which he was really destroyed. I think at some point in the race he shocked himself by being still there: you could see him giving up for a moment, then he went for it again but risked to crash a couple of times and decided to bring the points home.

"But in my opinion he's turned the page and I'm confident that from here on we can get back towards the front," concluded Suppo.

Stoner now lays 28 points behind championship leader Rossi and 14 behind Lorenzo, with eight races left in the season.