Stoner says sorry for crashing out at Estoril
Added on Monday, November 1st, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Stoner says sorry for crashing out at Estoril
Australian rider Casey Stoner has apologised to the Ducati team after crashing out of the Portuguese Grand Prix at the weekend.
Stoner, who was on a winning streak with three out of four wins in the races leading up to Estoril, crashed out of the race on the fifth lap, just after catching up with the leading duo Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
After the race Stoner said: “There is not much to say today, other than it’s a shame, obviously”
He went on to apologise to the Ducati team for his performance, adding: “When I got on the back of Jorge I wasn’t pushing as hard as I had on the previous laps but I ran a little off line and lost the front. I tried to save it but I wasn’t able to and I am really sorry to all the guys in the team because they have done a good job in difficult conditions to find a good set-up. We will try and make up for it in Valencia.”
It wasn’t a good weekend for the Ducati team all-round as Stoner’s teammate, Nicky Hayden, felt that he could have put in a better performance after finishing in fifth place, despite starting second after qualifying.
The American rider said: “Fifth place alongside a crash for Casey isn’t a brilliant result for the team – it has been a tough weekend on everybody but we will try to do better at Valencia,”
Hayden added that he felt that his confidence had been knocked by relying on guesswork for the race conditions, after going into a dry race, despite all other sessions that weekend having been in wet conditions, with torrential downpours, standing water on the track and strong winds.
“Today was the first time in my career that I have gone out to race in the dry without completing a single lap in those conditions before lining up on the grid,” he said.
He added:”In the middle part of the race I had a couple of moments on damp patches and lost my feeling a little. I got my rhythm back together towards the end and joined in the fight for the podium.”
