Jorge Lorenzo does not believe he can beat Casey Stoner to victory in Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, following his championship rival's pole position at Phillip Island.
The MotoGP champion, who is the only man that can now deny Stoner this year's title, qualified second for the race, 0.473sec behind the Honda rider. But, after beating Stoner only twice in the last six races, the Spaniard is not expecting to put up much of a fight against his rival, especially as the Australian has won his home race for the last four years.
"It's [going to be] very difficult to beat him tomorrow," the Yamaha rider said. "He's very fast at home track and he seems to have the [Honda] bike in the best way.
"For me it's very difficult. I try so hard to be competitive and fast. But when you look at lap times, it's difficult. The most I can hope for is to finish second. Maybe anything can happen though. It's a long race."
Lorenzo currently trails Stoner by 40 points in the championship, and must finish on the podium to guarantee taking the title fight to the next race at Sepang.