Stoner unhappy with wet performance

The Australian was quick on a damp but drying track today, but was not totally happy with his bike's performance.

"We still need to improve the bike quite a lot in wet conditions to transfer some more weight to the rear," he said.

"The wet set-up that we had this morning was okay but we've still got to improve it quite a lot, so we'll just have to see what the weather holds."

Further wet weather is forecast during the weekend, and heavy rain is currently falling at the track.

Stoner limited his mileage today as he continued to struggle with poor health, but did not feel he had missed anything by sitting out some of the session.

"When it was half-wet, half-dry you don't really learn anything in these conditions, you just destroy tyres, so there was no sense in being out there wasting energy to find nothing out," he said.

"If it's going to be a wet weekend we're going to need as many wet tyres as we can get. There's no point destroying them in one session, that's just silly mind games and trying to be fastest. You're only risking things, not learning anything."

But he was pleased with the condition of the circuit in the wet, despite Donington's reputation for being extremely treacherous.

"To be honest in the wet it's probably the best I've ever found Donington," Stoner said.

""The rear end grip wasn't great, but I think that's more our bike at the moment, we're struggling for rear grip at most circuits, in the wet especially. I had a lot of feeling on the front and a lot of feedback from the track, so I was quite impressed."