'Hangers on' distract Stoner.

Despite leading two of the three free practice sessions heading into qualifying, Casey Stoner was forced to settle for fourth on the grid after being distracted by riders trying to catch a tow from his Ducati.

"The first qualifier didn't go too well, I wasn't very confident with it, I ran wide and didn't do the best effort. The second qualifier would've been a lot better but unfortunately I couldn't get rid of a few riders before the lap, they were tailing me, waiting for me to go," said Stoner, who still qualified as the top Bridgestone rider. "I suppose I slowed down too much trying to get rid of them, the tyres got too cold and when I started the lap the tyres were moving around a lot. As the lap went on I got a bit better and a bit better but it was just my fault for taking it too easy on the out lap."

"There was some confusion at the end with lots of riders waiting for the Ducatis so they could follow them," confirmed Kawasaki's Olivier Jacque.

Nevertheless, Stoner is confident that he'll be battling for his second victory of the season on Sunday: "We are very confident on race set-up," he declared. "We are reasonably sure of what set-up and what tyres we're going to use for the race so we didn't have to do too much testing this afternoon and I think we can look forward to a good battle up front."

Also expected to join the victory battle is Stoner's experienced team-mate Loris Capirossi, who marked his return to form by lapping just 0.184secs slower than the young Australian.

"This afternoon we made some changes for maybe less rear grip but more front-end stability. As soon as I got out of the pits I was able to lap do 1m 54s, so our race pace is good," insisted Loris. "We had two qualifiers: a new tyre and a more standard tyre. I tried the new one first and it was good, it's got a lot of potential. I felt so good with that tyre that in one corner in the second split I got third gear earlier than usual, but I was too fast, went onto the kerb and almost crashed. Maybe I lost seven tenths right there.

"When I got back to the pit I only had one tyre left which isn't one of my favourites but I gave 110 per cent and finally I got fifth. The second row isn't so bad. What makes me very happy is that I really enjoyed riding today and I feel at ease in race trim. Bridgestone have made a really good job, they've solved a lot of problems we had last year here and tomorrow we will be able to fight at the front. I don't want to make predictions, I just want to enjoy myself again and we will see what happens."

Crash