BRILLIANT STONER WINS AGAIN FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM, CAPIROSSI
RECOVERS FROM 14TH TO SIXTH
 Ducati
Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner won his third Grand Prix
victory of the year in superb style at Shanghai today, extending
his World Championship lead to 15 points after four of 18
races. Team-mate Loris Capirossi also enjoyed a stirring ride,
coming through from 14th on the grid to finish in sixth position.
Stoner grabbed the lead on the second lap and spent much of
the race involved in an intense duel with Valentino Rossi.
Eventually Stoner and his Desmosedici GP7 were too strong
for the former World Champion, the Australian ending the race
three seconds in front. Capirossi, who started from the fifth
row after he had been brought down by a rival during qualifying,
steadfastly worked his way through the pack despite pain from
the arm injury he suffered in the fall.
CASEY STONER, 1st place, World Championship leader
on 86 points
"If last year someone had told me that at this point
of the season I would have won three races I would have laughed!
Anyway, today was another perfect day. I really want to say
thank you to Ducati, to Vittoriano Guareschi of the test team,
and to Bridgestone and to all the sponsors who have given
me this opportunity. The pace of the race was incredibly fast
and we were really quick on the straights. Again we were able
to take this advantage and I could just stay at the front
with the lap times we were doing. The only difficult part
of the track for me this weekend was the turn before the back
straight where I couldn't turn so well but we worked a lot
on this until we found better exit speed. During the race
I concentrated on the lap times which weren't that easy but
I could do them okay. During the closing stages, when I had
less fuel load, the tyres started working even better. I'm
really happy with Bridgestone - we expected higher temperatures
for the race and that's what happened, which is why we ran
a harder rear and we were really safe with it. I knew Valentino
was behind so I just concentrated and didn't make many mistakes.
I was expecting a big fight during the last two laps but after
he made his mistake I was able to control the race. It was
another fantastic race, like Qatar and Turkey, but we aren't
changing our way of thinking. We are working hard, taking
it race by race and doing our best every time".
LORIS CAPIROSSI, 6th place, 8th in World Championship
on 30 points
"We had a difficult Saturday and the crash in qualifying
was simply a shame because we had to start so far back on
the grid. I was in the middle of the first lap accident but
I was able to escape getting involved. Anyway, I had problems
when braking all through the race, so I couldn't attack. I
could only try to defend my position and finish at the front
of my group. I got ten points, which isn't much but they are
something. I'm eighth on points while Casey and Valentino
are way in front but I'm not so far back from third position,
so I'll just keep my head down and try to improve my feeling
with this bike which is obviously a winning machine. Also,
the tyres were very good today, so we just have to keep working
hard."
LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati MotoGP project manager
"Another unbelievable race! The bike was great, the
tyres were great and Casey did another fantastic job out there
today. Again, this victory is a big tribute to the all people
involved, from everyone at Ducati to our technical partners
Bridgestone and Shell Advance. Loris once again showed that
he is a real fighter who never gives up. Leading the World
Championship like this is a dream come true for all of us
and now we just want to keep working to keep the dream alive."
After the race FIM technical director Mike Webb checked the
engine capacity of Casey Stoner's GP7 and everything was okay.
This was a standard FIM procedure and not the result of any
protests. Already this season the FIM has checked the fuel
tank capacity and fuel temperature of the Ducati Marlboro
Team GP7."
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