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STONER EXTENDS POINTS LEAD AT SOAKING LE MANS |
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Sunday, 20 May 2007 |
STONER EXTENDS POINTS LEAD AT SOAKING LE MANS
 Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner extended his lead at the top of
the MotoGP World Championship with a superbly judged ride to third
place in atrocious conditions at Le Mans this afternoon. Team-mate
Loris Capirossi had a much more difficult ride to eighth in the soaking
wet conditions because of a bike problem.
The race started with
light drizzle falling at some parts of the tricky French circuit,
Stoner keeping out of trouble in the midst of the leading pack while
some of his rivals were riding like it was the last lap, several of
them crashing out. When heavier rain started falling at one-third
distance riders came into the pits to swap to bikes fitted with rain
tyres. Stoner maintained his composure despite the treacherous
conditions, slipping to seventh at one point but then moving forward,
getting the best out of his second GP7 and its Bridgestone rain tyres
to take third place on lap 17.
Capirossi had his work cut out
starting from the fifth row of the grid but the Italian charged through
the pack to move into fifth place before the heavier rain came.
However, when he swapped bikes his number-two GP7 didn't have exactly
the right engine mapping for the rain and he was unable to keep
improving.
CASEY STONER, 3rd place, World Championship leader on 102 points
"I was surprised to stay upright really! I thought it was going to be
difficult to finish because a lot of people were slipping off for what
looked like no reason. In the first part of the race it was light rain
and there were a lot of people going fast but a couple of corners later
they'd be on the ground, so you weren't too sure how hard to push. We
got through that part, got on the wet-weather tyres at the right time
and from there just tried to play it smart. I felt like we did that
today, we did everything right. I went back to eighth or ninth or
something - I couldn't really see my pit board with all the rain - then
at the end we managed to pull back up to a podium position and bring it
home. The Ducati and the Bridgestones seemed to work really good in the
wet, considering we haven't had time to get used to them in the rain. I
did have a few issues with rear grip, so I hope it's wet tomorrow so
can do some more wet testing."
LORIS CAPIROSSI, 8th place, 7th overall on 38 points
"I'm
very sad because I had the chance of a good result in the rain. I
changed bikes at the best moment, swapping over a lap before the others
and I found myself up front with Chris [Vermeulen, the race winner] but
I soon realised something was wrong because the bike was very difficult
to ride. The engine mapping wasn't right, the team had made a mistake.
It's a real shame and even if I understand that this kind of thing
happens I'm obviously not happy. I had to defend myself as best as I
could and it wasn't easy because I risked falling every time I braked.
Now we just have to look forward to the next race".
LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati MotoGP project manager
"That
was another superb race from Casey, it's great to get a podium in such
tricky conditions. He was very smart to come in to change bikes at the
right moment and he didn't take risks when he didn't need to, he showed
so much maturity. The bike worked well and the Bridgestones were very
good, that's why they had all three guys on the podium. We have to
apologise to Loris because we made a mistake - the engine mapping on
his second bike wasn't exactly right for the conditions. We are very
sorry that he wasn't able to get a better result because of this but
sometimes these things can happen."
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