Stoner rues bad tyre compound choice

Casey Stoner rued a decision to switch tyre compounds before the MotoGP race at Shanghai today when he could only finish a distant third to Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa.

The reigning champion struggled for pace in the race and believes he was fortunate to finish as high as third.

"I'm a little bit disappointed with today," he said. "We were advised to go with a softer compound rear tyre this morning, but after three laps it was clear that it just wasn't enough. I think we should have stayed with what we had the day before.

"We'd had a reasonable race pace and I think we'd have been a lot faster. I don't think we would have been battling with the first two, but we would have been more relaxed in the race. I was struggling just to stay with Colin (Edwards) before he ran off the track.

"We've still got a lot more work to do, but the team has the right attitude and I'm willing to put the work in, so hopefully we can improve this position."

Stoner tops wet warm-up