Stoner Looking To Put Jerez Demons Behind Him
Added on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Stoner had little joy in Jerez in last season
Casey Stoner will be looking to improve on the difficulties that he suffered in Jerez last season in this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Stoner finished fifth at Jerez last season, his second worst result of the season and one of only four events in which he failed to make the podium but some impressive performances in testing last month at the Spanish circuit, including victory in the traditional ‘race for the car’ has given the 22-year-old plenty of reason to be optimistic ahead of this weekend’s second round.
“You could say that Jerez last year wasn’t one of our best races, but winter testing went well there and with the general improvements we’ve made since last year I think we can be competitive,” said Stoner, who is looking for his second win from two outings this Sunday.
“We worked well with the Bridgestone technicians there and tested a lot of different types of tyre, so we should be well prepared to pick the right one for the race.
“There are a lot of riders who have started the season strongly, especially the rookies, amongst them riders who will want more of the same and riders racing at home, so they’ll be very motivated,” admitted the Australian, referring to the strong debut rides by Jorge Lorenzo and James Toseland, plus the unexpected podium of Lorenzo’s injured fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa.
“We just have to try and make sure we do our job well and then try to achieve the best result possible.”
“Last year Jerez was one of the most difficult races for Casey but during both tests here in November and February he managed to improve his performance a lot and ended up very fast in both sessions,” said Ducati MotoGP project director Livio Suppo.
“He is in incredible form, as he showed in the first GP in Qatar. His confidence in the bike and tyres is definitely even higher than it was a year ago so I think that at Jerez he can also be amongst the frontrunners.”
