Stoner sure wet tyres will hold up

At Jerez the Bridgestone wets faded severely as the track dried in parts, causing problems for several riders.

But as the Silverstone circuit dried in some places but remained very wet in others this afternoon, Stoner felt the rubber held up very well.

"Looking at the way the wet tyres are working at the moment we shouldn't have too much of a problem though, the track seems to be kind on the Bridgestone tyres and not destroying them and even after this afternoon's session we didn't have a too big a problem with them," he said.

The Australian was one of many riders who noted that the different parts of the track dried at very different rates.

"The track seems pretty good but some of the older sections are retaining a lot more water which is causing difficulties as in some areas you could be out on slicks but other parts are drenched," he said.

Stoner was quickest in both the dry morning session and the wet-then-drying second practice, leaving him optimistic that he can be fast this weekend whatever the weather.

"I'm pretty happy with how the day has gone after mixed conditions, we've seen a dry track, a wet track and then a 50/50 track so it's been interesting to have these variants throughout the day, but in general the bike has worked well," he said.

"We used both bikes today and in the wet one set-up seems to work pretty well, but with wet weather forecast for the rest of the weekend we still have some things we want to improve to make the bike work better giving us some more edge grip and traction."