Monterey, 22 July: As heat wave summer temperatures hit Laguna Seca, LCR Honda rookie Casey Stoner confirmed his place as a strong contender for tomorrow’s USGP. Stoner heads the third row of the grid from position seven with a best lap of 1'23.651, set on lap 18 of 28. However it’s his fast and consistent pace on race tyres that was an impressive part of today’s practice and qualifying sessions.

On his first visit to America, Stoner showed an instant liking for the roller-coaster track. He was third fastest overall across three hours of free practice, matching the pace of American favourites Nicky Hayden and Kenny Roberts Jr. In qualifying the track temperature rose to a baking-hot 55 degrees and Stoner was in sizzling form, claiming top spot midway through the session. Stoner then traded the fastest time with fellow Australian Chris Vermeulen and appeared set for a front row starting spot, until the switch to soft qualifying tyres with 15 minutes remaining.

“Casey continues to be very fast on race tyres and we have a very strong set-up for race conditions. But on qualifying tyres we are still not able to give Casey a set-up that allows him to push to the maximum. Michelin prepared a harder qualifying tyre for this track, and a softer a front, but again Casey was at his best on race tyres.”

“The heat is not a problem and our race set-up, and my speed on old tyres, is spot-on. I haven’t had a problem adapting to the track, it’s just a race track, and no one should use that as an excuse. We’re here to race, not qualify, so let’s wait and see what happens tomorrow. I was at the top of the times until everyone starting bolting on qualifiers and my first run on a qualifying tyre was OK but we messed up our runs later in the session.”