Aussie Casey Stoner was only seventh fastest in FP1 at Brno overnight.

Australian former MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner finished up day one of the Czech Republic Grand Prix in seventh position, frustrated as he looks to find a better set-up before qualifying on Saturday.

The Ducati Marlboro Team rider finished the opening hour-long session 1.317 seconds off the pace of series leader Jorge Lorenzo, looking to regain the form that saw him take victory at Brno in 2007.

“The session didn’t really go the way I would have liked,” he admitted. “We struggled from the start getting comfortable with the bike, trying to get it working better through the middle of the turns. We made it slightly better and the lap times came down by a couple of tenths but no more.

“We’ve also struggled a little bit for rear grip. We spent the session out on the softer tyre because we thought the track would be dirty but never really found the pace that we needed. We tried a few different things to get it smooth over the bumps but still didn’t find the grip we were looking for out of the corners.

“In the last two sectors we look okay so we’ll be working hard on the first half of the lap tomorrow. We have a long way to go but if we can improve through there I’ll be happy.”

A shower late in the session halted the progress in Stoner’s bid to make a late charge up the order, with American teammate Nicky Hayden just ahead of him in fifth as top Ducati.