Stoner Takes Superb 1st Pole of The Season at Barcelona

Casey Stoner picked up his first pole position of the season at Barcelona with a perfect lap on his third and final qualifying tyre. The Australian had shown good form on his first two Bridgestone qualifiers before an outstanding demonstration of skill and determination saw him smash the previous pole record by over six tenths of a second.

Stoner is expecting a close and combative race tomorrow, which could be affected by the weather. After a mixed bag so far this weekend uncertain forecasts make for an unpredictable race day, but the current World Champion is confident of his chances after finding a different set-up on each of his Desmosedici GP8 machines, both of which proved competitive today.

It was a much more difficult day for Marco Melandri, who crashed at the end of the afternoon qualifying practice when pushing to improve his grid position. Thankfully the Italian escaped any major injury.

Stoner To Start From Fourth at Mugello

Casey Stoner will start tomorrow's race at Mugello from the second row of the grid after lapping fourth fastest in qualifying practice for the Italian Grand Prix. However, his team-mate Marco Melandri struggled to find a solution to his set-up problems and the Italian faces a tough home race from 18th on the grid.

The riders enjoyed their first full hour of completely dry time this afternoon, adverse weather in the other three sessions turning set-up work and tyre choice into a dramatic race against the clock. Stoner found a comfortable setting just minutes before the moment came to fit a soft qualifying tyre and he is confident for tomorrow. Melandri will again experiment with weight distribution in tomorrow's warm-up session as he aims to find better feeling with the rear.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th fastest: 1'48.357
"In the afternoon we tried some new settings at the start of the session but they really weren't working so we decided to go back to what we'd found in the morning, when the bike felt smooth, and immediately the feeling with the chassis came back. We refined it a little more and just before we put the qualifying tyre in I felt really comfortable with the race set-up. I only got two laps in with that set-up on a race tyre but that was enough to make me feel confident about it and we know the tyre has longevity because it's the same tyre a lot of other riders have been using and we already put race distance on the same compound and construction. We put the qualifying tyre in and I honestly think I could have put in a strong challenge for pole position but I got held up by some slower riders, even though they were also on qualifiers. I feel frustrated about that but the grid position is still good for the race and I'm determined to bring home a good result for everybody at Ducati in their home race."

Night Race MotoGP 2008 in Qatar

"I'm happy that the races are starting up again and I'm satisfied with the job myself and the team have been able to do in the preseason tests. The Ducati engineers have made a few small changes to the bike over the winter that have produced a notable general improvement. The GP8 has better acceleration in low revs and the set-up changes we made at Phillip Island have improved its performance on the exit of corners. The Bridgestone tyres have worked well at all of the tracks we've tested at, including the night test in Qatar, so from that perspective I'm also really happy. It is going to be fun to race at night but for me it won't be a completely new experience because I already did a couple of speedway and dirt-track races at night when I was a junior back in Australia. It will be different but I don't think it changes the job for the rider, especially because we've already had two days of tests last week to get used to the track conditions and the lights. Temperature will be an important factor, though, especially as far as the tyres are concerned because at 11 o'clock when we start qualifying and the race it is really cold. We'll have to wait and see if the conditions are the same as they were for the test."

"Finally the first race is here and it feels good to get out there and see what everybody is really capable of. I've been looking forward to today for a while because to be honest I've got a bit sick of testing. Anyway, it was good to get going - the bike itself felt good from the start but for some reason the overall feeling wasn't as good as it was at the test and I'd put that down to the slightly different track conditions. There wasn't as much grip and lot of riders were crashing today, much more than at the same time during the test, so it seems everybody is struggling with the same problem. Tomorrow we'll try and improve the set-up of the cycle part to get an even better balance but in general I'm satisfied with the first day."

Debut

Just after his 14th birthday Casey and his parents decided to make the move overseas and packed up and headed to England to start his road racing career. Casey could not legally road race in Australia until he was 16, but had decided he was ready for the challenge. So the decision was made to move to England where Casey was already of legal age to race. A big risk to take, but it paid off. Casey was lucky enough and talented enough to attract immediate sponsorship after just one race in England. He went on to take out the English 125cc Aprilia Championship in 2000, in his first year of road racing. In that year he also raced two rounds of the Spanish 125cc Championship. It was there he was noticed by GP great Alberto Puig. Alberto was impressed by Casey's determination and skill and invited him to race for the Telefonica Movistar Team in the 125cc Spanish Championships the next year.

In 2001 Casey raced in both the English and Spanish championships in the same year. Despite missing some English races due to clashes with Spanish rounds, he still managed to come second in both championships. In that same year he was also granted wildcard entries into the MotoGP 125cc world series, in both England and Australia. He placed 18th and 12th respectively and as a result was offered a ride in the Grand Prix world series the next year for the Safilo Oxydo LCR team. Straight onto a 250cc machine in his rookie year, and at only 16 years of age, Casey demonstrated his ability and speed with results. His best result for the year was a 5th at Brno as well as several 6th place finishes.

Stoner, The World MotoGP Champhion

Casey Stoner born on October 16th, 1985 in New South Wales, Australia is an extraordinary motorcycle race. His passion for motorbikes made him hop on to his sister's 50cc Peewee bike at the age of three. Since then there was no turning back for this outstanding racer. Riding in his first race at the age of four, Casey Stoner, by the time he turned fourteen had raced all over Australia winning 41 dirt and long track titles and won more than 70 State titles in different cc categories.

As Casey could not take part in Australian road race until he was 16, his family taking a calculated risk moved the young racer to England where the legal age of road racing is 14. In his very first race in 2000 riding for Aprilia 125cc, Casey was lucky enough to find sponsors for his racing career. The great Alberto Puig was very much impressed by Casey's brilliant racing talents and offered him a racing seat with Telefonica Movistar Team in the 125cc Spanish Championships the next year.

In 2001, Sixteen-year-old Casey bursting forth with enthusiasm to win had participated in both the English and Spanish Championships. However he missed some of the English races due to shuttling between England and Spain. Despite his jetlag he still managed to finish second in both the championships.

Casey eventually won his ticket to race for Safilo Oxydo LCR team in the 125cc Grand Prix World Series. Showcasing his amazing racing style blended with speed and confidence, Casey Stoner finished with four podium positions and a wonderful maiden race win in Valencia in 2003. Continuing his excellent form Casey Stoner racing for KTM 2004 finished with six podium positions and a win in a GP class for KTM. He repeated his winning feat in 2005. Fighting it out with Dani Pedrosa in the series, Casey took home five wins and ten podium finishes.

In 2006, Casey found himself along side the racing giants when he made his grand entry in MotoGP, the fastest and the most prestigious of the racing classes. He displayed his amazing racing talents combined with stunning speed, he set pole position in his very second MotoGP race in Qatar and missed a race win by a whisker and finished runner-up behind Melandri. In his rookie year of the 2006 MotoGP season, Casey Stoner at twenty one, finished eighth and earned his place of pre-eminence among the racing elite of the MotoGP class.

In 2007 Casey Stoner has joined the Ducati MotoGP Team alongside Loris Capirossi, with whom he has struck up a good friendship. In winter testing he has often been amongst the pacesetters and has proved to have rapidly adapted to the Desmosedici GP7 and Bridgestone tyres. On March 10, 2007, at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, Stoner won the first grand prix of the season, the first ever 800cc grand prix, and had his first win in the MotoGP class. After that the young Australian took other nine wins, four further podium finished and scored five pole positions. On September 23rd, in Japan, Stoner secured Ducati’s first MotoGP World Championship becoming the first rider in over 30 years to win the MotoGP title on a European made bike and the second youngest premier-class World Champion, after American legend Freddie Spencer who won his title in 1983, and at the time was 84 days younger than the 21 year old Stoner.