MotoGP - Ducati: Feet on the ground

[Rory Phoulorie]

Casey Stoner and Ducati Marlboro may have won the MotoGP season-opener, but it's a case of feet firmly on the ground - since the team also won the first race of 2006, only to lose all hope of the title before the final round.

"It's great to start the season with a win, just as we did last year, but we must keep our feet on the ground. It's a long season and it won't always be so easy," warned Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo.

It was Stoner's team-mate Loris Capirossi who won the season-opening race at Jerez - venue for next weekend's second round - one year ago, and the Italian continued in championship contention until being cruelly injured in a turn one accident at Catalunya (round seven).

Nevertheless, momentum is back on Ducati's side in 2007: The team's new Desmosedici GP7 slaughtered its Japanese rivals along the Qatar home straight, while Stoner rode a faultless race to defeat the great Valentino Rossi.

"We go to Jerez in pretty good mood after the win," said championship leader Stoner. "I'm so happy with the team and everything, and I feel like we'll get stronger as I get more used to the strengths of the Ducati and the Bridgestones. Qatar was perfect - I was able to set my own pace throughout the race, not pushing too much. At Jerez I always seem to do reasonably well, never that great, but we'll see how things pan out this time. Around a lot of the track you need a quick-turning bike, so you can enter the corners quick and get on the gas quick. And you need a bike with good acceleration too. The other thing about Jerez is the first corner - it's always quite scary. The atmosphere is great, you really feel it during the build-up to the race but once the racing starts you just concentrate on the job in hand."

"I'm really happy for Casey because scoring your debut MotoGP victory on a new bike and new tyres isn't easy," added Suppo. "He was fast and smart at Losail, and he rode the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, proving he had everything under control and is physically very strong. Loris' crash was a pity, he didn't make one mistake all last season and mistakes happen in racing. We are sure he would've been on the podium if he hadn't crashed."

As Suppo indicated, Capirossi will be looking to score his first points of the season next weekend after an uncharacteristic mistake early in the Qatar Grand Prix. Having been behind Stoner all weekend in Doha, it will also be interesting to see how the Italian veteran responds to the pressure from his 21-year-old team-mate.

"My crash is already well behind me and I'm really looking forward to Jerez," declared Loris. "The tests we did there last month were very important to understand our 2007 package, especially since the tests there at the end of last year didn't go so well. With the information we learned in February we hope to be able to make some good decisions for the race. The GP7 feels very good around Jerez, it's a little easier to ride than last year's GP6 - more agile and more stable on the brakes. Jerez is also good for Bridgestone, as our 2006 win proved. It's a good track, nice to ride and very technical. To go quick you need a well-balanced bike and a good front end because you need confidence to attack the fast corners."

http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~6~id~144621~pid~1.htm

[Rory Phoulorie]

"The team's new Desmosedici GP7 slaughtered its Japanese rivals along the Qatar home straight,..."

Yup, this is about what happened.