Stoner aims to build on Italian win

On the back of his historic first Mugello win for Ducati Casey Stoner is looking for his third victory of the year this weekend at Catalunya.

The winner of a superb Barcelona race in 2007 en route to his World Championship triumph and the victor of the most recent MotoGP race at Mugello - a first win for Ducati at their home track – Casey Stoner has every reason to be confident as he arrives in Catalunya for round six.

However, approaching the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya as the standings leader, Stoner was typically understated as he previewed what promises to be another intriguing weekend at the Montmeló track.

Giving his general perspective on the title race having taken 90 points from the opening five rounds, four more than his current closest rival Jorge Lorenzo, Stoner stated, “This championship is extremely difficult and competitive and even a victory like the one at Mugello, wonderful as it was, needs to be put behind us so that we can turn our focus to the next race.”

“Being leader of the championship at this stage means absolutely nothing. My rivals are very clever, mature and capable of winning races so we have to stay focused, do our best to be competing for the top step of the podium again and if that’s not possible then make sure we are bringing home the maximum number of points.”

On the qualities of the Barcelona venue, the Australian added, “It was one of my favourite circuits until they re-laid it. Even though they put a completely new surface down a few years ago it has never been the same as it was before and the fact they race F1 there hasn’t helped the situation in terms of the bumps and potholes. The layout is nice though. The first part isn’t too difficult but the middle and end parts of the lap are technical and demanding, especially the fast pair of right-handers coming onto the start-finish straight.”

Stoner and his Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden will be honoured by the Circuit de Catalunya on Friday morning with the unveiling of their plaques on ‘Champions Avenue’ - adding their names to those of Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Dani Pedrosa, amongst others - in celebration of their respective 2007 and 2006 MotoGP titles.

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Suzuki unsure of race day engine rollout

Vermeulen and Capirossi uncertain of new engine debut before post-race test.

Rizla Suzuki have been fighting against a lack of top straightline speed since the start of the season, with the cavalry of a new engine promised in time for this weekend’s race in Catalonia to make up the deficit. The long straight of the Spanish track is one at which any discrepancies in power soon get found out, but the team may postpone their use of the upgraded motor until the permitted Monday test session following the race.

“We are hoping that the upgrades from Suzuki this weekend will work as well on the bike as they have in the factory, we're not sure if we'll use them in the race or hang on for the test day, we'll just have to wait and see,” says rider Chris Vermeulen, who resides a short distance away in the principality of Andorra.

Teammate Loris Capirossi came close to a podium last time out in Mugello, and seems determined to run the new engine at the upcoming round. He was the unofficial holder of the MotoGP top speed record with a 990cc Ducati at the Circuit de Catalunya before Dani Pedrosa’s phenomenal burst two weeks ago, and is looking for a similar push with the new GSV-R addition.

“We know we will have to work hard on the long straight at Barcelona, but we learnt a lot from the last race and hopefully that will help us this weekend. We have got some new parts coming from Japan which should make a difference to the performance of the GSV-R so we are all quite excited about that,” declared the Italian.

Suzuki have been testing out the engine since both riders made a request for more speed in preseason, but until now the motor has only been tested in laboratory conditions.

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Pedrosa receives clearance for Catalonia

Spaniard to participate in home race after last-minute check.

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa has confirmed his presence at the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya, less than two weeks after suffering a minor fracture to his right femur. The Spaniard undertook a final check-up at Barcelona’s Dexeus facility on Tuesday, with Doctors Xavier Mir and Manel Ribas giving him the all-clear to ride.

The participation of the 2008 racewinner was never in serious doubt, based on his past record of riding around injuries, the closeness of the title chase in front of him and the fact that the weekend’s race is one of his best chances of taking a first victory of the season. In a statement, Pedrosa also listed the desire to ride in front of his home fans as a key motivational factor.

“I didn’t want to miss this important date for anything in the world,” he said. “On the one hand I wanted to ride because missing this race would mean losing too much ground in the standings, and also because I wanted to race in front of my fans, friends and family.”

Pedrosa has been resting up following his Mugello ordeal, with his right leg immobilised and a cocktail of anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants to ease the pain.

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Jarno Trulli Q&A: Turkey result a reward for our efforts

From qualifying 18th and finishing 13th in Monaco, to starting the Turkish Grand Prix fifth and crossing the line fourth, Jarno Trulli’s results over the past two rounds have been erratic to say the least. But for Trulli the reason for Toyota’s turnaround in performance is simple and comes down to the Japanese team’s hard work. Here the Italian reviews his Istanbul race and looks ahead to the forthcoming British Grand Prix…



Q: What is your reaction to the Turkish Grand Prix weekend?
Jarno Trulli: We are back on track and it was good to be fighting at the front of the grid again. To return to the top five immediately after what happened in Monaco is great and it is a credit to the team, who have worked really hard to improve our performance. We were not far away from the fastest car; there is still a small gap which we will work to close but we are moving in the right direction.

Q: How did the team achieve such a big change of fortunes after Monaco?
JT: Basically it has been achieved through a lot of hard work after Monaco, by everyone in the team. Monaco is a one-off race and we felt sure our problems would not be repeated in Turkey but we didn't leave this to chance. We had a few upgrades, with changes to the front and rear wings, which brought additional performance. Overall we improved in many areas, including the start which was fantastic for me on Sunday. Timo (Glock) and I have worked together with the team to understand where we can improve and the result we had in Turkey was a nice reward for our effort.


Q: Did the car immediately feel competitive in Turkey?
JT: Normally you have a good idea straight away in first practice if you are competitive and in Turkey I was pretty happy from the beginning. We were clearly competitive and I knew immediately we would be in the top 10. We continued to get more performance out of the car in practice and in qualifying we were not far from pole position, even if the tyre situation was a little unusual.

Q: What was the situation with tyres in Istanbul?
JT: Normally the softer tyres clearly give better performance over one lap but in Turkey there wasn't so much difference between the compounds in qualifying. We used the hard and soft tyres in each session to make sure we had everything covered but the lap times were very similar. In the race it was quite straightforward and both tyres worked well. I used the soft tyres for a short final stint but I actually set my fastest race lap on the hard compound; it was fourth fastest overall which shows we were genuinely very competitive.

Q: How was the race for you?
JT: It was an exciting race for me because I was fighting on every lap. I had a great start and managed to overtake two cars into the first corner, so I was in third. But I was having trouble with the brakes locking and it was impossible to keep (Mark) Webber behind. After that I got into a good rhythm and I was battling hard with (Nico) Rosberg; I was ahead but he was pitting two laps later than me so took the position at the first stops. But I didn't give up. I knew I had to stay as close as possible to him during the second stint because we had more fuel on board. I was trying to make every lap like a qualifying lap and I stayed close, so when we both made our final pit stops I got out ahead. A lot of the credit has to go to the pit stop crew who did an amazing job to help me finish fourth.

Q: What are your thoughts on the season so far?
JT: It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride but right now I believe we are definitely heading in the right direction. The fact we are third in the constructors' championship shows how good our car is but the grid is very close in terms of lap times at the moment. We must develop as fast as possible to not only keep our current level but also put pressure on the teams ahead of us. Having new aerodynamic rules for this season means there is huge room for improvement during the season so our challenge is to continuously get more and more performance from our car.

Q: Are you confident of being competitive again at Silverstone?
JT: I am an optimistic person so I am full of hope for the British Grand Prix. We think Silverstone will suit our car pretty well and, from what we saw in Turkey, we are at a good level. Of course, we need to continue to improve and we have a small gap on the fastest cars, but the team is working on that. Personally I don't have a lot of good memories from Silverstone for various reasons but I am determined to change that.

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BMW Sauber not yet ready to call off 2009 campaign

With the season already seven races old, 2008 frontrunners BMW Sauber have just eight points - 62 less than at the same point last year. Given that championship leaders Brawn are already on 96, even the most loyal BMW fan would concede that the title is probably beyond the German-Swiss team’s reach.

However, after ongoing development work on the F1.09 brought them back into the points in Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix, BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen is refusing to write-off the team’s 2009 campaign.

“I’m often asked these days if it wouldn’t be better to simply stop working on the enhancement of the F1.09 and fully focus on our 2010 challenger instead,” said Theissen on BMW Sauber’s official site. “But this doesn’t represent an option for us. We won’t give up on the current season - far from it!”

After failing to trouble the top ten at the previous Monaco round, BMW Sauber certainly took a step forward at Istanbul Park. Although a poor start meant Nick Heidfeld finished outside the points, team mate Robert Kubica scored two - his first of the season - for his seventh place. And Theissen believes it was the addition of a new two-tier diffuser, and associated aerodynamic modifications, that made the difference.

“The race at Istanbul was the first we contested with our new twin diffuser. And the new component proved to be useful,” said the German. “Our car was fast enough at Istanbul to score points without having to benefit from any on-track incidents or the bad luck of other drivers. Obviously this isn’t enough to make anyone in the team complacent but it represents a basis we can use for our next enhancements.”

Following the new diffuser’s encouraging debut, far from putting development work on hold to focus on 2010, Theissen has accelerated the team’s 2009 programme, promising to bring new parts - including enhanced versions of the diffuser - to every second or third race over the coming months.

“There is still a lot of work waiting for us but the result secured at Istanbul was vital for the motivation of the entire squad, nonetheless,” he concluded. “At the end of the season we want to be able to say that we’ve encountered a disappointing start to the season but that we succeeded in turning things around and making it back to the front end of the field.”

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