News

Stoner not bothered where he wins the title

10/09/07

By David Miller

Ducati's MotoGP world champion-elect Casey Stoner has said he isn't particularly worried at which of the five remaining races he wins his first world title, just so long as he does.

And the hard-charging 21-year-old no longer has Rossi to worry about after the Italian master stated he thinks the title is now out of reach (click here) and is concentrating on next year.

"We've got five races left now and if we are able to win the championship it doesn't matter at which race we win it, anywhere will do," said Stoner. "Everything's working really well with our package at the moment. The team and the technicians are great, we work very well together, we are like a family. That helps a lot, you can do the same job if you don't have that relationship, but having a good relationship makes things more relaxed.

"I know the team believes in me and in my ability, which takes the pressure off, I felt this from the very first race. I've always gone quite well at Estoril, I won the 250 race there in 2005. Some of the track flows, some of it doesn't. The fast right onto the back straight was almost flat out on the 990s, so it should be flat out this year, but it's nothing like turn 11 in Turkey.

"The chicane is a bit too slow, really. There's a couple of parts I really enjoy, like turn two, which is a very, very difficult off-camber downhill corner that catches out a lot of riders. There seems to be a lot of passing opportunities at Estoril, so you get a lot of overtaking, so it should be a reasonably good race."

And Ducati team manager Livio Suppo is very vocal about his number one rider's abilities: "We are leading the championship thanks to Casey's amazing riding - eight wins from 13 races is incredible - but we still have work to do. In any case, Casey is doing a fantastic job - Bridgestone has won nine races this year, but only one with another rider. I believe he deserves full recognition for his riding talent and for the way he approaches racing."