MotoGP champion Casey Stoner is confident that he can end his Jerez podium drought in this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
The Australian has never finished in the top three at the Jerez circuit but, mindful that his poor result last year did not stop a dominant charge to the championship, he does not see a good finish this time out crucial for his title ambitions.
"We struggled here last year for sure," said Stoner, who only failed to finish on the podium at three other venues in 2007, during a press conference on Thursday.
"We weren't really up to speed around these tight twisty tracks at the beginning of last year, but had all of (the remainder of) last season to get everything to work on the chassis.
"And now, we also have a bit more acceleration on the engine. So with these tight corners we are able to get punched out of them a little bit harder.
"I have never finished on the podium here, but I scored in every race bar one in the top six, so it is a good points-scoring race for me. And it doesn't say anything for the rest of the season what result we get here.
"We have had some bad results here in the past and managed to do really well the rest of the season, so it's not important I suppose.
"We will give 100 percent this weekend and I feel with what we improved in testing we should be much more competitive than in past years."
Stoner is heading into the Jerez event at the top of the MotoGP standings again, having taken a dominant victory in Qatar three weeks ago.
Looking back on that success, Stoner says his biggest surprise was not the end result but that so few riders fell off in the cool conditions.
"The beginning was very difficult to make sure everybody got through alright," he said. "I expected a couple of crashes in the first couple of laps; I also expected crashes in the first few corners because the tyres were struggling to get up to temperature quickly. I didn't know how everyone was going to cope with that, including myself
"But other than that, the race was pretty much trouble free after five or six laps. We got a good feeling with the bike and were able to get some good lap times."
autosport.com