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The Ducati Marlboro Team will race on home soil
and in front of their fans for the second time this season when the Gran Premio
di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini gets underway this weekend at Misano.
Thousands of Ducatisti will once again make their presence felt on Sunday as
they take over the grandstand in turn one, the "Variante Parco", providing
crucial backing to the Italian factory.
Both Casey Stoner and Marco
Melandri are in the mood to put on a show for them, especially after the results
of a recent test session at Brno, where the Australian found a setting that
allowed him to go even faster than he had done in last Sunday's race whilst the
Italian also made some encouraging progress.
In 2007 the pair both
performed well at Misano, with Stoner taking a stunning victory from pole
position and Melandri coming through from twelfth on the grid to take fourth
place at the flag.
LIVIO SUPPO, MotoGP
Project Director
"Over the past five rounds Casey has shown
incredible speed from the opening practice session at a variety of circuits and
even though he hasn't got the points to show for it, he's in outstanding form
and we're sure he'll also be on the pace at Misano. The team and the engineers
back at the factory are working non-stop on continuing development of the GP8
and offering all our riders a highly-competitive package, as shown by an
excellent podium for Toni Elias at Brno. Marco also had a good second-half of
the race at Brno and we're confident that he has the ability to do well at
Misano, where he will be racing in front of his fans in what will be a special
race for him."
CASEY STONER (Ducati
Marlboro Team) 2nd in the championship on 187 points (-50)
"We
had a great result at Misano last year and that, added to the fact that we're in
good shape with the set-up and the tyres, means we can be reasonably confident
of another good result here. After the last few races and in the recent test at
Brno we've managed to improve the set-up even more so we're confident of putting
on a good show for the home fans at Misano. It is quite a tight and twisty track
and the surface is quite bumpy but there are some really fun sections. We'll see
what happens but we're in good shape - the gap in the championship is big but
we'll keep fighting until it's over."
MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 15th in the
championship on 41 points (-196)
"I was born a few kilometres from
Misano and I really feel at home at this circuit. It is still quite a new
circuit for us and this year they've altered turn one again. There are a lot of
slow corners and it's not easy to overtake so qualifying well and getting a good
start are even more important than usual. In the Brno test we found a few set-up
modifications that I liked and we hope they also work at this track. Obviously
it would give me great satisfaction to have a good race here - more than
anything for the team."
THE
TRACK
The Misano Autodrome was built in the early 1970s, measuring
a mere 3.488km in its original form. In 1993 it was extended to 4.060km before
further modifications between 1996 and 1998 saw the pit garage and paddock
complex extended and updated. The biggest changes to the circuit took place in
2006, when the track was lengthened to 4.180km and radically reversed from
clockwise to anti-clockwise. The biggest changes to the corners were at Rio and
Carro. In general it is a tight track, characterised by a prevalence of slow
corners - other than the fast and extremely demanding 'Curvone' right-hander.
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