Le Mans MotoGP: Casey Stoner hopeful on new electronics improvement

Aussie Casey Stoner is confident new electronics on his factory Ducati GP9 will strengthen his bid for victory in this weekend’s French MotoGP race in Le Mans.

The 2007 world champion will evaluate new electronics for the first time during the single Friday practice session tomorrow, which will revert back to a one-hour format from the 45-minute sessions trialled in the opening three rounds.

The 23-year-old: “ I’m not sure why we have struggled so much at this circuit with our bike. It seems really difficult and every corner it is hard to make the bike turn and exit the corners.

“We’re not really sure why it is but it happens at a lot of the stop and go tracks like this. The bike is very good and stable under brakes but through the middle and exit of the corners we struggle, so we’re still working on a solution to try and make it a little nicer to ride in these type of corners.

“Maybe some of the new ideas can help.”

Despite trailing world championship leader Valentino Rossi by 11-points after just three races, Stoner reckons he’s satisfied with his start to the 2009 campaign.

Having dominated the opening race in Qatar, he was fourth in Japan and then back on the podium with third place in Jerez and he said: “We have started really well and its been much better than we could have hoped for.

“We were competitive in Japan and I think without the problem with the brakes at the beginning of the race we could have definitely fought for the podium and possibly the victory.

“In Jerez we were never really there but considering how its gone so far we have a good starting point and I think tracks towards the middle and end part of the season suit me better and hopefully we can start to push hard a bit more.”