Stoner relieved to end win drought

The Australian Ducati rider dominated the race from his second pole position of the year, after getting the better of championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in a first-lap fight.

He was chased hard thereafter by local Honda man Dani Pedrosa, but always looked in control and recorded a comfortable five-second victory.

"It's a big relief to be honest," said Stoner. "We had the first race [in Qatar] almost wrapped up until I made a mistake and there have been a couple of other moments through the year where we might've been in with a chance of a victory but it's just been a mistake on my part."

The Aussie praised a set-up overhaul on his Ducati machine for allowing him to return to the top of the MotoGP pile.

"We've been struggling this year to get the bike set up well and really have it there on pace. We've been close to Jorge and Dani but two or three tenths a lap [slower] and it's almost impossible for me to make that difference.

"This weekend we tried something completely different for us. Since my operation I noticed my body position is not in the right area. We changed the bike completely and since then we've had a much better feeling with the front end. We were able to get the bike working almost the way we wanted it to."

Stoner admitted that his crash in this morning's warm-up had weighed on his mind prior to the start.

"I had a little slip off this morning, which was a little bit worrying going into the race," he said. "I was staying away from every white line I could. I didn't want to get too close.

"But we were able to pick up the pace when we needed to during the race and bring home a win for the team and for everyone who's stuck by me. Sorry it took so long."