Stoner blasts Elias after near miss in practice

EXCLUSIVE: Casey Stoner blasted Toni Elias after the pair nearly collided on track during the second practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix.

Ducati rider Stoner had already set the session’s fastest time when the incident occurred with the pair both near the end of their final flying laps.

Spaniard Elias, 24, made an extremely late move to bolt up the inside of Stoner into the braking zone at the end of the Istanbul Park circuit's infamous 205 mph backstraight.

That forced the Australian to stand his bike up to avoid an accident, before he then scythed back past to prove a point at the next turn.

Afterwards, Stoner told eurosport: “It's a practice session so I just think we're not out there racing, and he thinks it's the last lap of a 22 lap race. He needs to grow up!”

Stoner added that he expects to be a serious victory contender in Sunday's race at a track where he won in 250s and finished a close second behind Marco Melandri in last year's grand prix.

And his confidence seems especially well-placed as his Ducati was over six kph faster in a straight line than the best Honda of Dani Pedrosa, and seven in front of Valentino Rossi's Yamaha.

“We've had good results here over the past few years,” added Stoner. “It's not my favourite track, but it's interesting. We've gone well so far.”

EuroSport