MotoGP world champion
Casey Stoner finished his first race in three starts at Sunday's storm-lashed Indiapolis Grand Prix, despite 'destroying' his rear tyre.
Stoner snatched the lead into turn one, but dropped to third by the end of the lap and had been shuffled back to fifth by lap three. The Ducati star was already struggling with a lack of rear grip, but was able to take fourth place from
Andrea Dovizioso just before the race was stopped - due to high winds and pouring rain - with seven of the planned 28 laps remaining.
Stoner later revealed that the rain helped to preserve his tyres, but the gusting wind made riding 'ridiculous' and he fully supported the decision to stop.
"With this wind, it's literally unrideable," he declared. "The rain wasn't a problem in the race; it was actually the wind issues. You would glance a good two or three metres offline, and going into the back straight your front wheel is literally just moving a metre every time you change gear. It became very dangerous. It was ridiculous. The safest option was to stop."
Stoner and
Valentino Rossi were among the riders seen being consulted about the possibility of a restart (pictured) - a proposal that was soon abandoned.
"We're happy with the race today, but I would rather go home in one piece. Even in dry conditions, I don't think it's safe [in that wind]. It is literally unbelievable. I don't think you can keep your bike online, and I think there would have been a few nasty crashes. You know, it's not anybody's fault.
"We started off OK in the race, and I needed a few laps to warm the tyres up because we just weren't getting temperature. I destroyed the tyre after that. We were actually quite lucky it started to rain toward the end there. I don't think we could have kept up if it hadn't rained," he confirmed.
