Stoner hopes for change of luck

The reigning champion, who could lose his title to Valentino Rossi this weekend, took second on the grid for the Japanese Grand Prix, but had to rely on his first flying lap having abandoned the second run due to a poor tyre then struggled for visibility on his final lap after hitting a large insect with his visor.

"The first tyre is more getting a feel for everything - you never go as quick on your first tyre as you do on your last," said Stoner.

"The second tyre unfortunately seemed to be a bit of a dud and just didn't work, so I decided to cancel the lap because I knew it wasn't going to be as quick.

"Then with the third tyre, as I was coming over the start/finish line to start my lap, I got a big bug in my visor. Basically I couldn't take the tear-offs off, so that whole lap I couldn't see properly and I was a little bit frustrated."

Stoner was closing on Rossi in the title battle after four consecutive wins in the middle of the season, but he then crashed out of the lead at Brno and Misano. He has also been troubled by wrist pain having aggravated an old injury.

"Things seem to keep happening lately, with the wrist and everything else," said Stoner. "It's just not going my way. But tomorrow's another day and we're just going to do the best we can."

The Ducati rider is very confident about his race pace.

"For the race, we're in quite good shape," he said. "We've still got a couple of things we want to improve before tomorrow, but we're running reasonably consistent lap times and we know we can go a little bit quicker.

"So with a couple more changes for the morning, if it's going to be dry, we should be okay."