Stoner defends tyre gamble

Added on Monday, July 27th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Casey Stoner described his disastrous decision to run wet tyres as a “risk worth taking” as his title chances suffered a major setback at Donington Park.

Both Stoner and teammate Nicky Hayden surprised many in the paddock as they opted to run with wet tyres from the start in tricky conditions at Donington, with everybody in the Ducati garage praying for a rain shower as the lights went green.

And whilst spots of rain did materialise, the shower needed to justify the decision to run wet tyres never came, leaving the Ducati pair floundering at the back of the grid, with Stoner lapped by Rossi before the race had even hit the halfway mark.

Afterwards, Stoner conceded that the decision was a major gamble but argued that the decision would have put the team in a winning position had the gamble paid off.

“Everybody knows I’ve been struggling for the last few races in the dry so I was praying for the rain to come today,” said Stoner. “Every single lap we were out there it threatened to pour down and we were very close to having the perfect situation.

“Unfortunately, even though it got heavier, it didn’t come soon enough and our tyres were destroyed so it ended up being the wrong decision. For us, in our current situation, I still think it was a risk worth taking because it could have worked out fantastically but obviously we’re disappointed it didn’t.

“I’m sorry for the team because they’ve done a great job to give me a bike capable of winning races at every circuit we’ve been to lately, even though for one reason or another I haven’t been able to get the best out of it. I’m looking forward to a break now and hopefully we come back a little bit stronger at Brno.”

Team manager Livio Suppo also rued the decision but insisted that the decision was made by the riders, not the team management.

“We took a big gamble today and it didn’t work,” he conceded. “We actually informed both riders that all the other guys were on slick and that we thought it was the right choice but they were both adamant it was too dangerous and at the end of the day we have to trust their instinct in a tricky situation like that. If it had rained heavier we might be celebrating an amazing success now but we’re not and we have to accept it.”

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.