Fiat Yamaha Team's Jorge Lorenzo (Photo: Yamaha Racing) » More Photos

Stoner is looking for a return to the form that carried him to victory in the opening race of the season in Qatar, and he has been a match for main rivals Rossi and Dani Pedrosa through practice and qualifying.

“Despite the tough races in Jerez and Estoril no one in the team has lost their head, everyone has stayed calm and not panicked,” Stoner said. “We came here with a clear focus and with improved front feeling. The set-up is not perfect but it’s great to know we are competitive.”

Lorenzo, who turns 21 on race day, rode with pain killing injections for his leg injuries. He was barely able to walk.

“This is an amazing result for me and has given me a lot of confidence despite the pain,” said Lorenzo, who had taken pole position at the opening three races.

“Who knows what can happen in the race? Maybe a miracle but I think a podium is unlikely with my condition. My crash on Friday was the biggest of my career and I knew there would be a lot of pain when I hit the ground, but I was lucky not to have worse injuries.”

Lorenzo is joint leader of the world championship with Honda rival Pedrosa who starts fifth on the second row. Italian Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) qualified sixth.

Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden qualified tenth after crashing and running out of time to get maximum use from his qualifying tires.

“On my second qualifier I pushed the front at turn 11 and went down when I had a pretty good lap going,” Hayden said. “I need an awesome start to move forward in the race.”

Kawasaki rider John Hopkins was frustrated to qualify 14th after some solid lap times in free practice. He also crashed late in the session, at Turn 1, while trying to move up the grid.

“I’ve made my job a lot harder by not qualifying further up the grid,” Hopkins said. “On one my qualifiers the chatter was so bad it virtually bounced off the bike on my last run.”

Local weather forecasters are predicting rain for tomorrow’s race, which will upset the form guide of qualifying on a warm, dry track. However both Rossi and Stoner have won here in the rain.

And as Stoner noted on hearing the weather forecast: “ I won the 250cc race here in 2005 in the rain and the MotoGP race in the last year, so I have nothing to fear from the weather.”