French GP - Preview
DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM READY FOR BUSY RUN OF RACES
The Ducati Marlboro Team goes to Le Mans aiming to build
on its impressive start to 2007 as MotoGP enters its busiest
period, with five races over seven weekends.
The remarkable Casey Stoner currently leads the World Championship
by 15 points, after winning three of the first four races,
while team-mate Loris Capirossi has proved he too can run
close to the front, when luck goes his way. The sterling efforts
of the riders and the team have helped keep the Ducati Marlboro
Team at the top of the teams' championship and Ducati at the
top of the constructors' points chase, but it's a long, long
season with 14 races still remaining.
Both riders have good form at Le Mans. Last year Capirossi
took second place at the famous French venue while Stoner
finished just three second off the podium in his first premier-class
race at the track.
LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati MotoGP project manager
"We go to France in the same frame of mind - taking each
race as it comes and aiming to do the best job we can. Le
Mans won't be easy, traditionally it's been a Yamaha circuit,
Valentino (Rossi) was super fast there last year until his
engine broke and he was also very strong at the last race
at Shanghai. The Ducati and the Bridgestone tyres are working
well, Casey is riding superbly and we know Loris rode an excellent
race in France last year, so we hope he will fight for the
podium again, just like he did in Turkey last month. Really,
the season has only just started, so we must keep our feet
on the ground and keep working hard."
CASEY STONER, World Championship leader on 86 points
"So far, this season is pretty much a dream come true.
Now we've got to keep our heads down, make sure we don't get
too confident, keep putting in the hard work and maybe things
will pay off. In China everything worked out just perfectly
again, though it was a very, very difficult race. We'll have
to wait and see what happens at Le Mans. I've always been
around fourth there, in fact I've finished fourth three times
from the last four years. You really need a bike that's very
good on the brakes, if you don't have that you can pretty
much forget it. At the same time you need a bike that hooks
up on the exits of the slow corners, because there's a lot
of stop-start onto big straights. Le Mans is definitely for
the brave with a lot of out-braking going on, plus there's
a few good chicanes to sort people out. I normally go well
there in practice, I just don't get it right in the race,
maybe this year we can change that."
LORIS CAPIROSSI, 8th overall on 30 points
"I haven't had the luckiest start to this season but
I am really looking forward to all the races coming up because
I know they will give me a chance to get some points back.
Casey has proved that the GP7 is a winning machine and this
year's Bridgestone tyres are very good, so I am confident
I can perform well over the next few races. We just need to
keep working and continue to improve my feeling with the bike,
which I really enjoy riding. I don't love the Le Mans circuit,
even though I had a great race there last year. It is a very
stop-and-go track, not very technical, so it's not a lot of
fun to ride a MotoGP bike there, I think it's better suited
to 250s and 125s. But I believe the GP7 should perform well
at Le Mans because acceleration and braking are the two most
important things at this circuit and our bike is strong in
both these areas."
THE TRACK
Situated in the Sarthe region a few hours south west of Paris,
Le Mans is one of the world's most famous motorsport venues,
legendary for its 24-hour races. The Bugatti circuit - very
different to the longer 24-hour car track - returned to the
bike GP calendar in 1999, since when the event has built a
huge following in bike-mad France. The circuit is very stop-and-go,
with plenty of slow turns where braking and acceleration performance
are primordial. Riders and their engineers therefore concentrate
on honing their machines' braking stability, as well as improving
rear-end traction for the numerous hairpin exits. The layout
was changed slightly last year to improve safety at Turn One
and into the first chicane.
Lap record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 1m
35.087s, 158.255km/h-98.335mph (2006)
Pole position 2006: Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 1m 33.990s
DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER DATA LOGS
LORIS CAPIROSSI
Age: 34 (born 4 April 1973)
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP7
GP starts: 252 (82xMotoGP, 59x500, 84x250, 27x125)
GP victories: 28 (6xMotoGP, 2x500, 12x250, 8x125)
First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125)
First GP: Japan, 1990 (125)
Pole positions: 41 (8xMotoGP, 5x500, 23x250, 5x125)
First pole: Australia, 1991 (125)
World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998)
Le Mans 2006 results: Grid: 6th. Race: 2nd
CASEY STONER
Age: 21 (born 16 October 16 1985)
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP7
GP starts: 81 (20xMotoGP, 31x250, 30x125)
GP victories: 10 (3xMotoGP, 5x250, 2x125)
First GP victory: Valencia, 2003 (125)
First GP: Britain, 2001 (125)
Pole positions: 5 (1xMotoGP, 2x250, 2x125)
First pole: Italy, 2003 (125)
Le Mans 2006 results: Grid: 11th. Race: 4th
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