Factory Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo seems to be taking the return of Casey Stoner in his stride saying that if the Australian takes vital points away from himself and Dani Pedrosa in the final four races of the season, then so be it.

The Spaniard has a 33-point advantage going into this weekend but hasn't beaten Pedrosa on track since July. Add to that the point and squirt nature of Motegi, which will massively favour the RC213V, then he could find the going tough this weekend.

"If Casey if fast enough, he can win and take points from Dani and me. The thing we can control is our performance and that is the thing we are going to control in these races. If it's possible to win the races, I am going to try, if it is not possible then one podium will be ok in all four races," said Lorenzo, speaking at the pre-event press conference.

"You can never have the best bike possible and you are not competing alone. The competitors are working hard. It is difficult to fight for the win, we can do it, we are not so bad, we are competitive still and it is possible to win races."