Stoner confident about race prospects

"I'm pretty happy - a front row and a second row in my first two races," said Stoner, who qualified third in Qatar but quickly moved into the lead in the race.

"On race set-up we're very comfortable at the moment. We just need to test a few more things in morning warm-up.

"We've made a lot of improvements this afternoon and we're ready."

The Australian feels that moving to the Bridgestone-shod Ducati team from Michelin runners LCR Honda has made a crucial difference to his qualifying performances in 2007.

"Last year we were struggling every qualifying session," he told the series' official website.

"I don't think really I was getting the right tyres. Now I've hopped on the Bridgestone tyres and there's no different grades, we can pretty much do the job we want to."

Although Stoner is only fifth on the grid, he lapped just 0.122 seconds slower than polesitter Dani Pedrosa in this afternoon's extremely tight session.