Casey Stoner is confident that Honda has fixed the clutch problem that blighted his Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez three weeks ago.
After being taken down by Valentino Rossi's Ducati while the pair battled for second place, Stoner was unable to get his machine restarted as he attempted to engage the clutch while he and a marshal pushed it up the incline between Turns 1 and 2. But the 2007 MotoGP champion is confident that there will be no repeat of the problem at this weekend's Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.
"I crashed and didn't really deserve to be able to keep going, but in a situation where the bike had no damage or anything, it was pretty disappointing to lose so many points," said Stoner. "But we've fixed the problem for this weekend, so we should have no dramas."
Stoner, who won the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix on his debut for the factory Honda squad, lies third in the World Championship, 25 points behind defending champion Jorge Lorenzo.