Stoner: conditions may be unsafe for race

The Ducati rider crashed during first practice due to a lack of grip (he has fallen in all of the last four race weekends), and questioned the level of adhesion on the areas of the circuit where new asphalt has been laid.

"The track conditions vary drastically between the old surface and the new," said the 22-year-old, who was eighth fastest today. "Grip is good on the old stuff but there isn't even minimum grip on the recently laid asphalt and the rain makes it much worse because it isn't draining off.

"If it continues to rain like it did this afternoon then I'm not sure the conditions will be safe enough to race in.

"As far as the layout is concerned there are only a couple of critical areas - in particular Turn Five, where the run-off is very short," he added. "There's not much we can do about that right now though - the best thing would be to stick an air-fence in.

"This morning I crashed on the section where the grip is poorest and that's obviously not good for the wrist but thankfully it didn't create any major problems."

Stoner's teammate Marco Melandri, who was tenth fastest, echoed the Australian's comments, adding that in the wet the surface changes had made the track unpredictable to ride on.

"I like the design of the circuit - it's fun but unfortunately there are too many different types of asphalt and the new part is definitely the worst, especially with the rain," he said. "The bike tends to aquaplane and you can't see anything because of the reflection off the water.

"Grip on the older part is good, although if it keeps raining it's going to get really difficult. There are two or three dangerous corners: turns one, five and six, where the walls are too close.

"This morning we started out cautiously but we improved towards the end, whilst this afternoon we didn't get chance to make too many improvements because the conditions were so bad."