Australia’s Casey Stoner is chasing a return to victory lane when MotoGP resumes this weekend at Laguna Seca in California.

Stoner led last weekend’s German GP for nine laps until traction issues robbed him of the confidence to attack late in the race. Lorenzo took advantage and passed the championship leader in the final corner.

Still, Stoner has an enviable record, with podium appearances in every race he’s finished and a winning record at Laguna Seca.

The Australian, 25, won the 2007 race en route to the first MotoGP World Championship of the 800cc era, and he hopes to end the MotoGP era with a second world championship. He followed his 2008 USGP victory with second place finishes in 2008 and 2010.

“I’m looking forward to going to Laguna Seca, it’s a circuit I’ve always enjoyed quite good results at and we’ve always been naturally quite fast there,” Stoner said.

“The track itself is a very tight and technical track, there are lots of sweeping gradients and unusual corners with a lot of camber, so you need to be delicate on the track and not ‘attack’ it too much.

“We’ll be looking to improve our results from the past three weekends – three podiums are great – but I’m here to win races, so we’ll be aiming to get back on the top step next Sunday in Laguna.

“It’s been a pretty tiring few weeks and we have another back to back race now, but I love going to America and the area of Monterey is truly beautiful, the fans are always very welcoming and the atmosphere there is fantastic.”

Stoner came away from Germany leading the MotoGP World Championship by 15 points over Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha).