MotoGP: Ducati launches title defender.

[Rory Phoulorie]

Tuesday, 8th January 2008

The Ducati Desmosedici GP8 may have made its track debut during testing at the end of 2007, but the bike with which Casey Stoner will defend his MotoGP crown had its official unveiling on the snowy slopes of Madonna di Campiglio in Italy on Tuesday.



Stoner and new team-mate Marco Melandri ceremoniously broke an ice sculpture to reveal the new bike in its 2008 livery, before both took part in a press conference with the assembled media.

The conference began with former Gresini Honda rider Melandri revealing how it feels to wear official Ducati Marlboro Team colours for the first time.

"I feel great in red!" he smiled. "I'm so happy to have become part of the Ducati family. I'd dreamt of riding a Ducati ever since I first saw one. When I tried on my new leathers yesterday, I felt quite emotional. I'm aware of the big opportunity I have been given this year. It's not going to be easy, but it will be exciting and I'm ready to commit entirely to reward all those who wanted me to be here.

"I'm really impressed with how people work at Ducati. Although they've already achieved the greatest goal, winning the world championship, they have continued to work relentlessly.

"After my first tests, I gave feed-back to the engineers so that my bike could be adjusted to match my requirements and now, I can't wait to hit the track again to train for this season. As soon as we manage to fine-tune the bike we'll be very competitive," he insisted.

"This is such a wonderful event," added Stoner, after taking over from Melandri at the press conference table. "I'm happy to be here although it meant celebrating my first wedding anniversary on a flight from Australia! I hope to be able to have fun and do some skiing too, maybe cross-country skiing. I don't want to run any risks snowboarding.

"This holiday break after our latest test was just what I needed to unwind after a fantastic, although extremely challenging season. I also needed to recover after my shoulder injury from the Jerez tests. I feel much better now, although I'll only know if I'm completely recovered when I get back in the saddle.

"I'm happy to begin a new season with the same bike and the same team, it's a first for me since I started to race. The feeling is just perfect with everyone at Ducati: Claudio, Filippo, Livio and all of my team, I wouldn't change a thing. As for my bike, I haven't suggested any big changes either, because we already had such a competitive package. We are only going to work on a few details.

"Winning a world championship has taken a big weight off my shoulders: all my parents' sacrifices, all the hard times in the past, it's all behind me now. This year, I'll continue to work in order to try and repeat my performance of last year and be even stronger and faster, but I'll be able to do that in a very different spirit," concluded Casey, who won ten races during his spectacular debut season with Ducati.

Wednesday will see Ducati Corse CEO and general director of Ducati Motor Holding, Claudio Domenicali, talk to the press about the GP8's technical innovations.


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