Stoner delighted with fifth pole in a row

The reigning champion continued his domination of the weekend, although his advantage over the rest of the field was less than half a second for the first time this season as he struggled to get the best out of his tyres.

"We used quite a soft front tyre because we didn't want to use the allocation for the race," said Stoner. "Unfortunately with more grip in the rear I was pushing a lot in the front so I messed up the first two tyres and just couldn't get a good feeling with it.

"I was a little bit nervous because I basically had one tyre to do the lap. But I changed the style a little bit and tried not to push the front so hard and keep more corner speed.

"We definitely found a much better solution, on the brakes it's much more stable and I'm able to get on the gas a bit earlier because it's a bit more stable in the middle of the corner.

"I managed to put a nice lap together and we got the pole position. I think that's five on the trot now, so we're very, very happy."