Stoner released from Hospital

The Ducati Marlboro rider came off his bike and banged his head, resulting in some concussion and blurred vision in his left eye.

MotoGP medic Dr Claudio Costa was confident the injuries were not serious but asked for Stoner to be transferred to hospital for further checks. A subsequent CAT scan at Cadiz hospital confirmed there were no problems.

Stoner said that he lost control of his machine while evaluating a new Bridgestone tyre, with his team still searching for improvements ahead of the season opener in Qatar.

"We tried going out with a different rear tyre, which we couldn't get to work and I had a crash at the end," explained the Australia. "I don't usually like to go out on the track after 5:30pm, and I wasn't pushing hard, but unfortunately it broke away on me quite quickly."

Stoner and teammate Loris Capirossi believe that they are making progress with Bridgestone's qualifying pace, although admit there is more work to be done.

"I was reasonably happy with the qualifying session, I wasn't aiming at the car (prize for fastest driver)," said Stoner about the 40-minute session on Sunday.

"We were there to test some qualifying tyres, and I had a really good feeling and sensation with them, so I think the more I ride on them and the better setting we get, the further we can push ourselves up the grid."

Capirossi added: "We are happy enough with our race pace - we can lap in the low 1:41s and that's not so bad - so we have achieved a good target.

"We knew that the situation with qualifying tyres could be a bit more difficult and, even though we've made some progress, it's clear that we need to continue working with Bridgestone in this area to be fully competitive, because at the moment we suffer a lot at tracks without a lot of grip."