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Ducati
Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi
finished Sunday's Italian Grand Prix in a close fourth
place and seventh place to retain their advantage in the
riders', constructors' and teams' World Championships as
the 2007 MotoGP series reached one-third distance.
The pair enjoyed a brilliant start to the race, World
Championship leader and pole-position man Stoner
completing the opening lap in first place, just ahead of
Capirossi. Stoner led the first three laps, Capirossi
the next two, but then both men slipped back slightly.
Stoner spent much of the remainder of the race in third
place, ending up fourth after fellow Ducati rider Alex
Barros went past in the closing stages. Capirossi,
racing for the first time with a new engine spec in his
GP7, battled long and hard for sixth place, crossing the
line in seventh spot.
CASEY STONER, 4th place,
World Championship leader on 115 points
"That was a very difficult race. After warm-up we knew
we would struggle a bit but I thought maybe we could
make the podium. We were really close to a top-three
result but we didn't quite manage it. Anyway, I'd like
to say thank you to the team because we tried everything
we could this weekend but unfortunately the conditions
weren't perfect for us, with so much rain during
practice. We learned some more lessons that will make us
come back stronger at Barcelona next weekend. The
biggest difficulty we had today was turning in the long
corners and we also lacked a bit of traction. But, as I
said, we should be able to solve these problems before
the next race and score a better result."
LORIS CAPIROSSI, 7th
place, 7th in World Championship on 47 points
"I gave everything I had today and things were going
well at the start. Then I had two big moments, first at
Arrabbiata 1, then at Arrabbiata 2.
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Casey Stoner led the first three laps of the Grand
Prix, Loris Capirossi (above) the next two, but then
both Ducati riders slipped back slightly. |
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Ducati Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner (above) and
Loris Capirossi finished Sunday's Italian Grand Prix
in a close fourth place and seventh place to retain
their advantage in the riders', constructors' and
teams' World Championships. |
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"I lost the
front and risked falling, so that lost me some confidence in
the front and I wasn't able to maintain such a fast pace, I
had to slow my rhythm. Unfortunately, the strange weather
conditions during the weekend didn't allow us to work the
way we wanted to on my new engine spec. I used the new spec
today because Ducati had done such a good job in giving me
more rideability but we lacked some speed. Anyway, it was
good to be up front again and we will work to improve some
more during practice at Barcelona next weekend".
CLAUDIO DOMENICALI, CEO
Ducati Corse
"The race didn't go as we had expected, we were aiming for a
better result, even though we had two Ducatis in the first
four. The weekend's extremely changeable weather conditions
didn't allow us to find the ideal set-up to allow our riders
to get the maximum from their bikes. In particular the
bike/tyre combination wasn't perfect for the faster turns,
which are fundamental to fast lap times at Mugello. Anyway,
Loris was very competitive in the early stages, and we will
continue working with him to get the best set-up for his new
engine spec at Barcelona. Once again I was amazed by Casey's
coolness and determination in getting so close to the
podium. He confirmed once more that he's consistent as well
as fast, and quite able to manage a race when he cannot
fight for the win."
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