Aussie Casey Stoner is determined to contend for victory this weekend in Portugal.

Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner is anxious to make his mark during this weekend’s Grand Prix of Portugal, the Aussie putting behind his controversial clash with Valentino Rossi at Jerez.

Stoner was on the move when Rossi slid off in the first turn at Jerez, taking Stoner with him before the pair were engaged in a facinating war of words afterwards.

Stoner tried to re-join the race, but wasn’t able to get his Honda RC212V fired – ruling him out of the running altogether while Rossi resumed to fifth.

It was the lone black mark on what has been an impressive start to the season for Stoner, who began the year by dominating testing and followed it up with a brilliant victory in the season-opener under the lights in Qatar.

“I had a good rest in Switzerland and I feel very good at the moment,” Stoner commented. “I’m looking forward to Portugal after a difficult last race in Jerez.

“We were looking for a good result in Spain after positive practice sessions and qualifying so we are happy to get back on track. Estoril is not one of my favourite tracks, but we have had good success there in the past.

“We will be looking to get back some points against [Jorge] Lorenzo as he has been the strongest there in the past three years.”

Stoner is confident that the RC212V will be well suited to Estoril in his debut aboard the Honda in Portugal.

“I think our bike should work quite well at this circuit as it has some tight turns with exits onto big straights so I hope to find some good traction in these points and be competitive from the first day,” he concluded.