Struggling Stoner cautious about race

The Ducati rider could only qualify seventh at Jerez, 1.097 seconds slower than pole-winner Jorge Lorenzo on the factory Yamaha.

Stoner is the only Ducati in the top ten, with his teammate Marco Melandri and the satellite Alice D'Antin bikes filling the final three places on the grid.

He said he expected to struggle at Jerez, but believes he could be more competitive in the race than in qualifying.

"At this race last year and Motegi last year, we had some difficulties in certain types of tracks," Stoner told Italia1 television.

"Also the tyres are not working perfectly at this circuit, I think that's quite obvious.

"But altogether we're more confident for the race than we are for the practices. We can ride at a rhythm, but we're just not fast enough."

Stoner added that Ducati will try some more adjustments in the warm-up, but if the changes did not pay off he plans to ride conservatively rather than pushing beyond the bike's limits.

"Tomorrow we will try a couple more things, and if it's not working then we'll just have to stay quiet and get the points," he admitted.