Stoner frustrated to miss last lap

The Ducati rider held provisional pole near the end of the session, but with the track steadily drying after earlier rain, he was pushed back to the third row.

He then missed the chance to fight back when he left the pits too late to get another flying lap in.

"Unfortunately qualifying was a bit of a lottery with the way the track dried out and we missed the chequered flag with my final qualifying tyre by just twenty seconds, so that was frustrating," Stoner said.

"Anyway, the most important thing is that we're in good shape for wet or dry conditions so I'm looking forward to going out and having some fun in the race."

The former champion reckoned Ducati made a lot of progress during the day.

"The guys did a great job with the bike overnight and in the dry this morning it felt much better than it had done yesterday," he said.

"My pace was good and I felt much more comfortable. We struggled a little bit in the afternoon because there wasn't enough weight on the rear but we didn't really get much time to work on that because it dried out so quickly.

"In any case, the wet pace was pretty good so if it rains tomorrow, which looks likely, then I'm confident we'll have a good set-up."