MoToGp News

There was a packed schedule again on the third day of Wrooom 2010 at Madonna di Campiglio on Wednesday, with Claudio Domenicali coming under the spotlight in a morning press conference. The General Manager of Ducati Motor later joined Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden on the spectacular Patascoss slope to unveil the new Ducati Desmosedici GP10, the Ducati Marlboro Team’s latest weapon in the chase for the MotoGP title, against the dramatic backdrop of the Dolomites - recently added by Unesco to their World Natural Heritage list.
“The main changes to the bike are based on the rule changes, so the major part of the work was done precisely to make it perform better using only six engines for the entire championship,” explained Domenicali. “It’s a very important difference, because we were used to using more-or-less one engine per race, so to switch from 18 engines to six is a very important adjustment. All of the main parts were redesigned - pistons, rods, crankshaft, the basics. It’s an engine with which our main objective was to minimise the loss of power to increase durability.”
Domenicali continued: “The second big news isn’t related to the rules, but to our attempt to make the bike more rideable. This has to do with the firing order. We have a motor that, since the switch to 800cc, utilised a screamer set-up. This has permitted us to have maximum power, which was very important and was probably fundamental with the results that we’ve had in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but at a certain point, we began to wonder whether it could be worthwhile to re-test a way that we’d already followed in the past. The last 1000cc motors that we made in 2005 and 2006 used a big-bang firing order, and this gave us important rideability. We re-tested that way, first trying it on the dyno, then with Vittoriano Guareschi in his previous role as test rider and then with Nicky and Casey.”
“We think we have a bike for 2010 with better traction, and that therefore makes it easier for us to find a good set-up. Another part of the work was dedicated to the chassis. In the pursuit of ease of use, we’ve worked to eliminate the bike’s squatting, which is why the entire rear portion of the bike was redesigned. This bike has a rear structure that carries the rider - which we call the seat support - and that also supports the swingarm. That part was redesigned to have six mounting points instead of four; this makes the bike more rigid in a way and it guarantees better rideability and improved rigidity. With respect to the bike we introduced last year, this bike is also aesthetically different because of the redesigned fairing but we already saw that at Estoril.”
Domenicali then discussed the recent changes to Ducati Marlboro Team management.
“2009 was a year - even from a sporting perspective - that was difficult and complicated. Nicky found things harder than he or we expected but he gave us a great lesson because he never lost his good attitude, he always had a spirit of great optimism and positivity. We were able to put at his disposal a bike that permitted him to obtain results that were in line with his talent. He gave us a podium at Indianapolis and he kept improving the whole season.”
“Casey was very fast from the start, as he always is, and had great potential. Of course what happened at mid-season affected the season, but I believe that everyone - from Casey to us - has described what happened and clarified it so it seems useless for me to continue to give details. The important thing, in my opinion, is that today we have Casey with us, probably in the best health we’ve ever seen him. We have reason for optimism for both riders.”
“There have also been some changes to the management, with Alessandro Cicognoni and Vitto Guareschi coming in, having shown themselves in the team to have competence and perhaps even bring things that were missing. I believe that this important change leaves the company in a solid situation, also because it’s in some way personalised by an incredible talent as Filippo Preziosi, who is the true engine of all our racing activities, and he remains safe, solid, and dedicated. I believe it’s a change in the continuity, if we can define it that way.”
Domenicali continued to add: “Faith is the key word that Ducati are using in looking ahead to 2010, in a variety of aspects. We have a team that certainly makes us think we can approach the Championship with great hope. Nicky and Casey are two riders who don’t need any type of introduction. We have faith in the company, because it has a solid, stable base in the Bonomi family, and it’s a company that has managed 2009 well: the motorcycle market had a big decline in 2009 - the market declined by over 30 percent, a very heavy, difficult amount. But our company managed very well and we dropped ‘only’ 18 percent. In fact, in 2009, we had the largest share that the company has ever enjoyed historically. So also from the economic point of view, the company knew how to control very carefully its costs and manage 2009 well. For example, we didn’t cut or eliminate any development of future models, something that’s fundamental for the future health of the company.”
“We have faith in the Championship, because I see that Carmelo Ezpeleta (CEO, Dorna Sports) - here with us - has come through a truly difficult moment, with great character. He’s always been present in person, and he’s somebody with whom you can have a relationship and a dialogue, so it’s very important for our company to be present in a Championship run in this manner and Carmelo is thanked personally for this.”
“We have faith in our sponsors, because 2009, as I said, has been very difficult and yet we’ve managed to continue good relationships with them. We have a very important main sponsor in Marlboro - obviously our host at this event - which has confirmed our faith. We have other important partners like Telecom, Generali, Enel, Riello ups, that have been with us and grown with us over a long period of time. We also have faith in the media, who are well represented in this sport.”

The Wrooom Press Ski Meeting 2010 officially opened on Monday, in a week that traditionally combines spectacle, sport and meetings with the international press in Madonna di Campiglio’s magnificent Dolomites.
Events will get underway on Tuesday, with press conferences with the two Ducati MotoGP Team riders, Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden.
On Wednesday it will be the turn of Claudio Domenicali, General Manager of Ducati Motor Holding, with another key moment being the official presentation of the Ducati Desmosedici GP 10.
The week will also include events dedicated to the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team, with drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and test driver Giancarlo Fisichella all present, and proceedings will conclude on Friday.

Héctor Barberá will make the graduation from the quarter-litre category to MotoGP in 2010, returning to the Aspar structure with which he made his World Championship debut in 2002.
Riding on Ducati machinery in the premier class, Barberá will again be teamed with Jorge Martinez ‘Aspar’ as he enters the next stage in a career that has already spanned eight seasons at the age of just 23.
Barberá made his World Championship debut in Japan at just 15 years old, and after a promising first season he went from strength to strength. In only his second season in the single cylinder category in 2003 Barberá amassed an impressive five podiums; a first GP win at Donington amongst them.
Better was to come in his final year in 125cc in 2004, as second overall was the result of a fine season which produced four wins and a further three podiums, the final race of the season at Valencia a highlight as Barberá won in front of his home crowd.
A move up to the 250cc class followed and after a year of settling in, 2006 delivered a win from pole position in China as Barberá finished seventh overall. He improved by two places in 2007, and in 2008 was a favourite for the title after being given an official Aprilia RSA. However, a crash in a practice session at the Japanese GP ended Barberá’s season early as he sustained fractures in two of the vertebrae in his back.
Returning for the start of the 2009 season, Barberá produced his best ever final classification in the 250cc World Championship in the category’s last ever season.
Victory in the opening race of the season in Qatar started the year in fantastic style for the Spaniard, and an eighth podium of the year in Valencia in the final race – another win on his home track – sealed second place in the 2009 standings.
Barberá began his preparations for his debut season in MotoGP immediately after finishing the 2009 campaign, riding the Desmosedici GP9 at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in the post-season test. Jerez provided the setting a few weeks later as he again took out the 800cc prototype, this time in wet conditions, and his education aboard the machine will continue in the next scheduled MotoGP test in Sepang in February.

Dubbed the ‘Battle of Catalunya’, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo’s fantastic fight for victory has been classified by many as the highlight of the 2009 season.
A contest between two team-mates, battling for the win until the very end, was an awesome spectacle which saw Rossi secure victory at the very last opportunity, and here you can experience all the gripping action once again.
The full race is available in High Resolution, and you can also see the duel from several different perspectives.
Bird’s Eye View offers you the opportunity to see how the race between Rossi and Lorenzo unfolded from an aerial viewpoint, captured by helicopter cameras, while Pure Track allows you to see the last three laps as they happened. OnBoard delivers a unique and thrilling camera angle from both riders’ bikes.
Finally, MotoGP Rewind gives you a free video highlights package of the race.

Italian riders Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi brought excitement and a deep dislike of one another to the MotoGP scene in the early 2000s, as they fought in every sense for the right to be crowned World Champion.
Their rivalry began in the late 90s before they had even started to race in the same category, and by the time they competed against one another in the premier class in the 2000 season the battle lines had been drawn.
Completely different mentalities in both living and racing, Rossi and Biaggi divided fans as they rode for different teams in their individual quests to take the MotoGP crown.
MotoGP commentator Nick Harris sums up perfectly the tension that had been building between the pair, and continued to do so throughout their contests after the battle lines were drawn following an infamous incident at Suzuka in the 2001 Japanese Grand Prix.
“You knew the conflict that had been simmering, not so much on the track because they had not ridden together that much because Rossi had just arrived in the 500cc class the year before, but it transferred onto the track and you knew it was going to take off from that moment; it was brilliant!” explained Harris.
In the attached video you can watch interviews with Harris, Rossi and Biaggi and Carlo Pernat, former manager of both riders, as well as the best footage of their electrifying clashes.
Tomorrow, motogp.com relives the magnificent duel between Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo at the 2009 Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya.

Protagonists of one of the most exciting finishes ever to a World Championship, Frenchman Olivier Jacque and his Japanese team-mate Shinya Nakano took their fight for the quarter-litre title all the way to the final seconds of the 2000 season.
Separated by only a few points after 15 races of the campaign, the duo arrived for the final race of the year in Australia with tensions high. Jacque was the eventual victor as he slipstreamed Nakano and won the race by 0.014s.
““It was very risky. I could have overtaken him before but he’d had a very good season, a very good race and he also deserved the title, so I gambled. It was really risky, the last curve, the last straight,” said the Frenchman in an interview in 2006.
Jacque also remembered clearly the feelings before the start of the race.
“In Australia the winner of the Championship would be the one who finished in front of the other,” he added. “The pressure was very high, I remember, but it was very psychological. We were sharing the same room and changed in the same place. This was a hard time because you really needed somewhere to rest and concentrate.”
Nakano fought hard to compete with Jacque to prove himself, and pushed his team-mate all the way.
“The team were all French and so is Olivier, so if I was always behind him I couldn’t get anything. So that is why I tried to show my potential to the team staff, and that is why in every race and on every lap I pushed hard to finish in front of him,” said Nakano.
“This race I still remember,” he continued, turning his attention to the title decider. “Before the race my strategy was, of course to do my best, and push hard from the first lap. I did not pray, I just got out there and hoped that I would get the right result.”
In the attached video you can see both riders’ interviews as well as footage of their on-track contest. Tomorrow, motogp.com reviews the all-Italian rivalry between Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi.