Stoner rues practice crash

The former champion had topped this morning's session despite having a low-side at the first corner near the end of the hour. While he was able to rejoin following the incident, he said the bike had not been the same afterwards, although he still took second on the grid, just 0.021 seconds behind pole-sitter Jorge Lorenzo.

"It's weird - all weekend we've been really happy," Stoner told the BBC. "We haven't been blisteringly fast, but we've been really happy with the bike and it's been turning well.

"And this afternoon, since the crash this morning, it feels like crap. I can't get any feedback from the front end anymore. Everything feels alright, but it's turning really, really slowly in the fast corners and I'm losing a lot of time.

"Of course on this track you spend a lot of time on the edge. If I wasn't losing so much time in the middle, our lap times would be a lot better."

Stoner said the problem had been mostly during the long runs earlier in the session, and that he was therefore concerned about his race pace.

"We're doing consistent lap times, but nowhere near competitive enough," he said.

"We've got a lot of work to do before tomorrow morning. Let's see if we can come up with something better."