Stoner 'shocked' by turnaround in form

The Australian dominated the last two races at Donington and Assen, and has closed the gap somewhat to championship leader Dani Pedrosa after a dip in form in the early part of the season.

But even though new engine management software appears to have transformed the performance of the GP8, Stoner admits he didn't expect it to leap him so far ahead of his competition.

"I did say, after the tests in Barcelona, that we were ready to make up for the time lost," he was quoted as saying by Italian magazine Motosprint.

"Our racing department managed to fine-tune the ignition system and the engine management software, so that the power output became smoother and more linear when you get on the gas.

"It's been a shock for a lot of people and, to be honest, it's been a shock for us too.

"We'd never have thought that we'd leave Assen after getting this close to the championship lead, compared to where we were before the Donington race."

Stoner now believes Ducati can maintain that form and expects to be very competitive in the two races in Germany and the USA, prior to MotoGP's summer break.

"I think we can be very quick both at the Sachsenring and at Laguna Seca," he said. "It would be very good to get to the season break after having made up the gap. In fact, it would be nice to get there in the lead.

"Three races ago I was 50 points behind the lead, while now it's 29. They ruled me out of the title fight a bit too early. That's why I say that it would be really nice to get to the summer break ahead of everyone again... Let's do these two races and see what happens."