Stoner pleased with 'easy' day

Ducati had a clear power advantage at the start of 2007, but Stoner has always maintained that the package is just competitive at slower venues.

He was fastest in both of today's practice sessions.

"We seem to be pretty quick straight out of the box, we've not had to change too much with the bike," Stoner said.

"The team is doing a great job because we seem to be doing it pretty easy so far.

"Yet again, there's no big straights in this track but the Ducati is showing how good it is on these tight and twisty circuits.

"We knew it'd be okay here because the bike has been fine at other tight tracks, like Donington and Le Mans. It's really performing well at every circuit, so long as we do our job right, the bike seems to perform."

His teammate Loris Capirossi was nearly a second slower in 12th place, but insisted he was in better shape than the times indicated.

"I'm happy enough, even though I'm 12th," Capirossi suggested. "Another three tenths and I would be in the top five, so we are not so far away.

"Today we worked well enough and the weather is forecast to improve tomorrow, so we will have the chance to make further progress.

"We are using an engine spec which is a compromise between the standard engine and the different spec we used for the first time at Mugello, and it's performing well enough.

"The tyres are okay, today I used the same 16.5 inch rear for 30 laps, so we shouldn't have any problems with endurance. Tomorrow we will be looking for more rear traction, maybe we'll sacrifice a little from the front, as always trying to find the best compromise."