Stoner surprised to fall off bike

The Ducati Marlboro rider fell off his GP7 machine in the tricky conditions and, although he got back out again later in the session, he was unable to find the kind of form that has seen him dominate recent Grands Prix.

"I had a small problem this morning - I made a mistake and crashed, even though I was being very careful at that point of the track because I had seen a lot of 125 riders crashing and running wide there," explained Stoner, who finished up third fastest. "So it came as a big surprise to me.

"For the rest of the session we only had medium tyres so it wasn't possible to ride with so much confidence. I was expecting this afternoon to be dry but it was the complete opposite - in the end there was enough water on the track in some places to go swimming."

Teammate Loris Capirossi, who was fourth quickest, is hoping that tomorrow is dry in Misano so teams can get some work done on setting up their machines.

"Today felt like Malaysia last year," said the Italian. "This torrential rain has ruined everyone's plans. When we woke up this morning it was already raining but we were able, more or less, to complete the morning practice session.

"The surface doesn't feel too bad in the wet, there was just one section, the 'Quercia' turn, which was very slippery and I think that almost all this morning's crashes happened there.

"The real problem is that our braking points and lines are very particular in the rain so I really hope that tomorrow is dry because the forecast for Sunday is sunny.

"At the moment we have no data for Misano, so we have to start from scratch with gearbox set-up, suspension settings, engine mapping, tyre choice and so on. That's why we will get two hours of practice tomorrow morning, from 9 to 11am.

"I also hope they will be able to clean the track because the rain has put a lot of mud on the asphalt. The surface probably won't be perfect anyway, but it will get better once the bikes put down some rubber."