Stoner feeling the heat?

Ducati rider Casey Stoner is continuing to demonstrate amazing speed during MotoGP testing, but the Australian needs to transfer that form and pace to race day if he wants to catch Valentino Rossi in this year's world championship.

Attempting to rebuild his confidence onboard his Desmosedici GP8 following his costly crash at Brno on Sunday, Casey Stoner again demonstrated the competitiveness of his current Ducati Marlboro package with a 1´55.855s lap of the Czech circuit on Tuesday.

The time was by far the quickest of any undertaken by the eleven riders in attendance, and second fastest, Valentino Rossi, was almost a second off the pace.

Stoner achieved a remarkable time of 1´55.904s on race tyres, faster than Rossi´s two-year old pole record.

Whichever way you view it, if the Aussie wants to defend his title, he needs to start winning, and with the current speed and confidence of Rossi, thats not going to be an! easy task.