Saturday October 20, 2012
Stoner confident as he clocks second fastest time
CASEY Stoner is confident he’ll be in much better shape this weekend than he was in his MotoGP comeback race in Japan last week.
Stoner finished fifth in Motegi – his first race since undergoing surgery to mend a broken ankle suffered in Indianapolis in August.
The two-time MotoGP world champion started well to clock the second fastest time in free practice at Sepang yesterday behind Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa and said his ankle was not troubling him so far.
“I definitely feel more comfortable here than I did in Japan. I’m not sure if this is because of the time spent on the bike or the fact that this track isn’t quite so demanding on my right leg,” he said.
“The circuit goes to the right a lot but there aren’t so many slow corners that I need to pick the bike up and I’m getting a better feel here so the laptimes came easier.”
Although the afternoon session was spoilt by rain, Stoner said he learned enough in the morning to feel confident about his prospects.
“We still have quite a bit of work to do and I don’t think we are anywhere near the pace that we need to be but the first session went very well. Hopefully we can continue in this way for the remainder of the weekend,” he said.
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