Stoner: Ducati need 'a bit extra'

The championship leader was second and fifth in the Friday practice sessions, but believes that more speed must be found if he is to challenge for victory.

"It's a similar situation to what we were in at Mugello - we are fast enough but we've not got that little bit extra at the moment," said Stoner, who dropped from pole to fourth in the Italian Grand Prix.

"This morning we weren't too bad but this afternoon we seemed to have gone in the wrong direction. We tested a lot of things - different front tyres, different rear tyres, different chassis set-ups, links and so on - and basically I think we made it a little too confusing, so we need to go back to what we had and then go off in a different direction.

"Same as every weekend we're looking for more traction and more turning in the long corners. We still need to improve the bike but the tyres aren't so bad and we've not been through the whole range yet, we've still got a couple more rears to try tomorrow."

Stoner's teammate Loris Capirossi had been fifth in the morning, but slipped to 14th in the afternoon.

"This afternoon didn't go as well as this morning because the tyres that were available for the second session weren't as good as those we used in the first session," Capirossi explained.

"With the new tyre rules we don't always have enough of the better tyres to use in all sessions, so we had to use another tyre, that's why we weren't so fast this afternoon.

"Anyway, at least we know that we already have a good tyre for this track, and we still have one more to try tomorrow."

He added that he had reverted to Ducati's standard engine for Catalunya after trying an engine optimised for his riding style at Mugello.

"I am using the standard spec engine here," said Capirossi.

"Mostly we have been working mostly on the chassis, with promising results. I'm not so happy with my lap times or my position but I think we can look forward to improving tomorrow."