FANTASTIC DAY FOR DUCATI MARLBORO MEN
 Ducati
Marlboro Team man Casey Stoner scored a masterful victory
at Istanbul Park today to regain the World Championship lead
while team-mate Loris Capirossi announced his renaissance
with a gritty ride to third place. The pair's impressive performance
also puts Ducati at the top of the constructors' title chase
and the Ducati Marlboro Team at the top of the teams' championship.
Stoner swept into the lead at the end of the first lap and
no one could get close enough to challenge him after that,
the Australian extending his advantage throughout to win by
6.2 seconds. Capirossi had a less lonely race, running second
behind Stoner early on, then battling back and forth with
a group of riders. He lost third place to fellow Ducati GP7
rider Alex Barros exiting Turn 11 on the last lap but fought
back into the final chicane to take his first podium of 2007.
Three Ducatis in the top four made this the best-ever MotoGP
race for the legendary Italian marque. Bridgestone also enjoyed
its best MotoGP result, monopolising the top six places.
Casey Stoner, race winner, World Championship leader on 61
points
"We had a great race, unfortunately some of the other
riders didn't have such a good race. Really, with the way
the Ducati and the Bridgestones were today we couldn't do
anything wrong. I got past Colin (Edwards) on the first lap
because I wanted to make sure I didn't get held up and bumped
back like in Jerez. Then Valentino ran off the track, pretty
much gifting me first position. From there we put some good
laps together, built a gap and continued from there because
some of the other riders were having a battle. I don't want
to sound confident, but at first I was pushing hard to get
a gap, then after it got to 2.53 seconds I tried to slow the
pace, just to make sure everything was safe, and the lap times
actually dropped from trying to go a bit slower. The Bridgestone
tyres were absolutely perfect, in fact the whole package was
just perfect. I have to thank a lot of people, all the team
and everybody who's contributed to my career, including Anthony
Peadon (Australian former international sprint cyclist) for
training me over the last few weeks. We are really determined
this year, we're not expecting much, we're just doing the
best job we can. With Ducati and Marlboro and everybody together
I think we can do a really good job and I think and I hope
that we can get stronger as the season goes on."
Loris Capirossi, 3rd place, 11th in World Championship
on 20 points
"The whole weekend has been fantastic for me, I'm back!
Twenty days ago I had the best moment of my life when our
first kid was born, so now I'm enjoying riding again and I
hope my championship starts here because we still have 15
races to go. Everything worked so good, I got a good start
and tried to follow Casey but he was so strong and I preferred
to go a little slower. I fought a lot, especially with Alex
on the last lap. I lost the front in the fast right, my bike
start shaking a lot and Alex overtook me, so I said ‘okay,
I have only one opportunity to make the podium, to out-brake
Alex at the chicane'. I want to say thank you very much to
team, to everyone for keeping confidence in me after two difficult
races."
Federico Minoli, President and CEO Ducati Motor Holding
"Three Ducatis in the top four is really amazing, it's
our best-ever result in MotoGP, a fantastic day. Casey has
been so strong all weekend, Loris showed a lot of character
holding onto third and I'm really happy for Alex too. To see
our other team go so well is another testimony to the talent
of our engineers. Casey again showed great maturity, he kept
extending his advantage throughout the race and always kept
his cool. The kid has a great future in front of him."
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