Stoner battled throughout the race with Andrea Dovizioso despite losing rear grip in the early stages and was relieved merely to come out of it in one piece and with a decent points haul.

Marco Melandri was unable to rediscover the positive feeling he'd found for the wet conditions on Friday and he struggled home in 19th place.

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) 4th

"I think it was the right decision to stop the race because the conditions were really dangerous - more for the strong wind than the heavy rain, which made it difficult to keep the bike upright. I'm never going to be satisfied with fourth place but it would have been foolish to push harder in those conditions and I made the right decision not to do so. I got a good start but I quickly lost confidence because the rear tyre was tearing up quickly and by the time they stopped the race I was struggling to hold my lap times."

MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati MotoGP Team) 19th

"I'm really disappointed because after riding in the wet on Friday I was expecting a pretty good race today. As it happened I struggled to rediscover the same feeling, especially with the engine braking. I never had a good feel for the bike and there was no grip on the front or the rear. I couldn't ride it from the first lap and in conditions like that it is incredibly difficult."

LIVIO SUPPO (Ducati MotoGP Project Director)

"It was a tough race for Casey but he showed grit and determination to bring home a decent result. It maybe to do with the power delivery of our engine or the set-up of the bike but the rear tyre went off quicker than expected and Casey couldn't ride on the attack, as we're used to seeing. It's a shame it wasn't a dry race because in the warm-up we saw Casey was in good shape for those conditions. It was another tough weekend for Marco. Hopefully things go better in Japan at a circuit he like a lot."