Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner collects his 11^th pole seat for 2011 at Phillip Island - MotoGP news

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner took the pole seat for Iveco Australian Grand Prix, taking place on October 16, 2011.

The home star set the benchmark of 1 minute and 29.975 seconds at the Phillip Island track.

Stoner said, “So far so good, we have a good race pace and the bike's feeling pretty good at the moment. We still need to improve the rear grip, but I think this is the same for everyone, we'd also like to get the harder rear tyre working better for the race.”

Stoner’s other two teammates, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso were struggling to take the first row start for the Australian event. Pedrosa was struggling to take the pole position and did couple of runs to claim the top seat.

On the other hand, Dovizioso did his best lap time and took fourth position in second half of the session. However, he was struck by Rizla Suzuki rider Alvaro Bautista, who then held the fourth position till the end of the practice.

Stoner added, “We began Qualifying with older tyres to understand where we are for the race and I'm quite happy as the lap times we were achieving were similar to Jorge and Dani who were on the new soft tyre.”

The Aussie rider took a risk to test his race pace on the used tyres. Stoner was able to lap as fast as Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa were lapping with fresh slicks. This increased his confidence for the raceday that he will be able to challenge the top squad with used tyres.

Following his initial laps he shifted to fresh soft tyres and started to push the limit for pole seat. However, there is a minor issue with left shoulder of the tyres. The bike tends to slide a lot in left hand corners causing massive tyre wear.

Stoner reckoned that Lorenzo is also riding in a strong form. The Aussie’s chances to take the championship are minimal. However, he aims to take the win and ride as safe as possible on his home ground. The weather is unpredictable for Sunday, October 16, 2011 but he is ready to take any conditions for the raceday.