“I have won here twice and to say that fifth place feels just as good might sound strange but man, so much hard work has gone into getting us to this point and I want to savour this feeling.
To be racing at home, to score a solid result and to have had fun out there is nice. I just want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to my whole team, to Ducati and to everybody who has continued to believe in me during some difficult times this season.
We have made progress over the last two races, we have kept the faith and it has paid off with this fifth place. Hopefully we can keep it going and score even better results as the season progresses.”
“We’re near the back again so that’s not cool and not what I was hoping for.
In some places the bike feels quite good but in other places, coming out of the corners, it feels pretty flat and I don’t have enough acceleration. Usually this is a strong point of the Ducati so it’s a little strange so we’ll have a look at the mapping and see if we can figure out the problem tonight. Normally around here you have a lot of wheelies and I don’t have any so it’s obviously something we need to put right.
I’ve got a new helmet design here for the 4th July. It is tradition to let off fireworks here so that is the basis of the design, although on the track we haven’t let anything go yet! Hopefully we can get a better direction with the engine tomorrow and find some spark!”
1. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 1’21.981
2. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 1’22.093
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 1’22.170
4. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 1’22.637
5. Toni Elias SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.682
6. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 1’22.880
7. Marco Melandri ITA Hayate Racing Team 1’23.140
8. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’23.217 Click here to read more
“When you start from 13th you are always going to have a lot of work to do but that was the best bike I’ve had underneath me all season so I want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the team for that, they have worked so hard.
I got a great start and was able to lead the second group for a while until a couple of guys came past and I lost my rhythm a bit. I made a little mistake under braking on the back straight, ran wide and lost a lot of time but I fought back and got in with the group again. I was having great fun but unfortunately the left handlebar came kind of loose about halfway through the race and cost me a lot of time – that’s when a lot of the guys got past me.
I know I’m coming out with a lot of excuses this year but a loose handlebar at that speed is pretty scary! The guys are looking at how it happened. Anyway, man it was a hard battle. I know we were only fighting for fifth or sixth but it felt like there was a title on the line out there! Click here to read more
1 Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 42’14.611
2 Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 42’19.979
3 Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 42’07.724
4 Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 42’43.725
5 Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 42’48.216
6 James Toseland GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 42’53.958
7 Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 42’54.154
8 Toni Elias SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini 42’54.385 Click here to read more
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