Brno MotoGP: Casey Stoner seeks faster pace

Casey Stoner has admitted facing a tough second half to the 2010 MotoGP world championship unless he can extract more speed out of Ducati’s factory GP10 machine.

The Australian hasn’t won a premier class race since last October in Sepang and his second place at the previous round at Laguna Seca was his best of the current campaign.

And the 24-year-old, who will move to Honda’s factory squad in 2011, said: “The problem is the results might look like they are getting better but we’ve been hitting the maximum too early and we can’t improve as the weekend goes on.

“We really need to step it up and I’ve been trying to find more solutions to be more competitive with the front guys. Even though it is only a tenth or two or lap, when I try to equal them or gain anything on them I make a mistake.

“I need to find something a little more comfortable that enables me to go a couple of tenths quicker each lap so I can put up more of a fight.

“But if we continue like this in these last races it will be very difficult. Everybody is working hard and we will keep on trying.”

The 2007 world champion goes into this weekend’s Czech Republic Grand Prix in Brno lying fourth in the overall standings on 103-points.

That’s jut 13 clear of factory Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi and just 12 adrift of Andrea Dovizioso in third.