Casey Stoner happy to bounce back after tough start

Casey Stoner bounced back from a torrid morning session to register the fourth best time on a crash-strewn opening day in Catalunya.

The Aussie was one of this morning’s victims when he crashed exiting the first corner, and he had two further off-track excursions as he finished well down in eighth.

The reigning world champion was closer to the front this afternoon though with a 1.43.099 good enough to secure the fourth best overall time.

Stoner blamed poor track conditions for his dismal performance this morning and he said: “The track’s the worst I’ve ever ridden it. It’s very, very slippery. We don’t really know why, you saw a lot of riders crash, there’s not a lot of feeling with the track.

“It’s quite a surprise because this circuit normally gives you a lot of feedback. I had a slide in the same place as Jorge (Lorenzo) and I felt the same kind of thing.

“There seems to be many points in the track, like there’s been diesel dropped there. It seems to catch you out every lap in the same place, I don’t know if there’s been trucks here or something but it’s not a good situation.”

Ironically though Stoner reckons Catalunya’s notorious bumps had less of an impact than previous years.

“I feel they’ve improved, believe it or not. Every year I’ve come here they’ve got worse and worse and worse, but for me this year they’re definitely not worse than last year, “said Stoner, who has been vocal about the bumps caused by the high level of Formula One testing in Barcelona.