Casey Stoner wary of double Spanish threat

Casey Stoner says it is impossible to single out Jorge Lorenzo or Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa as to which one will pose the biggest threat to his hopes of winning back the MotoGP world title in 2011.

After Stoner claimed a stunning Honda debut win in Qatar back in March, the Aussie has seen reigning world champion Lorenzo win in Jerez and Pedrosa claimed his first win of this season with a brilliant ride in Estoril last weekend.

The Spanish pair are split by just four-points at the top of the points rankings with Lorenzo already 24-points clear of Stoner after just three races.

But the 2007 world championship said it was too tough to call on whether Lorenzo or Pedrosa represented his biggest challenger.

Stoner, who finished third in Portugal last weekend after being struck down by a trapped nerve in his back, said: “There’s no way you can say one is more dangerous than the other. Jorge is the world champion and whoever is the world champion in the past year, obviously has the target on the back and he’s leading the world championship at the moment.”

“On paper, you can say he is the strongest. But Dani was able to ride through some barriers and have a great race. Those two are extremely strong, so you can’t say that one is stronger than the other at the moment.”