Day one at Wrooom - MotoGP Press Ski Meeting 2008 was action-packed with a press conference attended by reigning World Champion, Casey Stoner, and his new team mate, Marco Melandri, wearing the official Ducati Marlboro Team gear for the first time. The Ducati Desmosedici GP8 launch was set in the breathtaking scenery of Madonna di Campiglio in the Trento Dolomites. The two riders ceremoniously broke an ice sculpture to reveal the new bike in its 2008 livery and tomorrow, Ducati Corse CEO and General Director Ducati Motor Holding, Claudio Domenicali, will talk to the press about the bike's technical innovations.
The press conference began with Marco Melandri revealing how excited he is to wear the Italian World Champion team colours for the first time.
"I feel great in red!" He exclaimed. "I'm so happy to have become part of the Ducati family. I'd dreamt of riding a Ducati ever since I first saw one. When I tried on my new leathers yesterday, I felt quite emotional. I'm aware of the big opportunity I have been given this year. It's not going to be easy, but it will be exciting and I'm ready to commit entirely to reward all those who wanted me to be here. I'm really impressed with how people work at Ducati. Although they've already achieved the greatest goal, winning the World Championship, they have continued to work relentlessly. After my first tests, I gave feed-back to the engineers so that my bike could be adjusted to match my requirements and now, I can't wait to hit the track again to train for this season. As soon as we manage to fine-tune the bike we'll be very competitive."
"This is such a wonderful event," said Casey Stoner taking over from Melandri at the press conference table. "I'm happy to be here although it meant celebrating my first wedding anniversary on a flight from Australia! I hope to be able to have fun and do some skiing too, maybe cross-country skiing. I don't want to run any risks snowboarding. This holiday break after our latest test was just what I needed to unwind after a fantastic, although extremely challenging season. I also needed to recover after my shoulder injury from the Jerez tests. I feel much better now, although I'll only know if I'm completely recovered when I get back in the saddle. I'm happy to begin a new season with the same bike and the same team, it's a first for me since I started to race. The feeling is just perfect with everyone at Ducati: Claudio, Filippo, Livio and all of my team, I wouldn't change a thing. As for my bike, I haven't suggested any big changes either, because we already had such a competitive package. We are only going to work on a few details. Winning a World Championship has taken a big weight off my shoulders: all my parents' sacrifices, all the hard times in the past, it's all behind me now. This year, I'll continue to work in order to try and repeat my performance of last year and be even stronger and faster, but I'll be able to do that in a very different spirit".
The four day event event schedule includes Claudio Domenicali's meeting with the press to explain the technical innovations of the Desmosedici GP8 in detail.
Claudio Domenicali Reveals Desmosedici GP8Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri unveiled the Desmosedici GP8 in its new livery, Claudio Domenicali, Ducati Corse CEO and Ducati Motor Holding Product Director, revealed the technical details of the new bike. Two hundred journalists from all over the world gathered at Madonna di Campiglio to attend the Wrooom - MotoGP Press Ski Meeting 2008 and meet the Ducati Marlboro Team riders and management.
In addition to explaining the 2008 technical innovations, Domenicali also briefly analysed the 2007 Ducati championship and commented on the most interesting aspects of the new championship.
"It is very exciting to be here," began Domenicali. "This event has become traditional over the years, but I must say that it feels different this year. The very special feeling created in 2007 between our rider and our bike and tyres resulted in a fantastic season for all of us. I could sum it up by saying that Casey was able to perfectly interpret our GP7, which had been impeccably built and maintained high levels of competitiveness and excellent reliability throughout the season. The Bridgestone tyres also took a step forwards in terms of performance consistency, thanks to our successful joint efforts which had begun in 2005 and allowed us to basically close the gap with Michelin."
"Our 2008 bike is an evolution of the 2007 model, how could we have done otherwise? There was so very little wrong with that bike," continued Domenicali before analysing the new bike's technical characteristics. "We worked on all areas. In terms of chassis set-up, the new frame is lighter with optimised torsional and flexural rigidity to solve the rather minimal "chattering" that we experienced on a few occasions last year. The rear suspension geometry is also different to reduce the 'pumping' effect observed in certain tracks and in special conditions. As for the engine, we worked on two areas. First of all, performance. We introduced a number of modifications to minimise friction and obtain a small power increase without affecting fuel consumption. Secondly, we worked on rideability, in other words, engine response proportional to the rider's torque requirements. We tackled this aspect to obtain a 'fuller' engine response especially mid-range and maintain peak power for longer.
Finally, with regards to electronics, we modified a few sensors and actuator details to increase reliability and consequently, safety. One of the main reasons of our presence in racing is to develop technology to be transferred to production bikes, improving safety and making them even more fun to ride. Electronics play an important role in all this. An example of this is our new 1098 R, which is equipped with exactly the same traction control system used in Ducati racing bikes, making it the first bike in the world to feature a system able to combine safety with high performance."
Domenicali concluded his presentation by talking about the essentially important support granted by Ducati sponsors in a highly competitive and challenging environment like MotoGP.
"We would like to thank Philip Morris who made it possible to reach these goals. Without them, all this would have been very hard to achieve. Our contract with them runs until 2011 which gives us the peace of mind needed to continue our work," said Domenicali. "Just today, we've renewed our contract with Shell, a technological partner extremely important to us, given the decisive role played by fuel consumption in our championship regulations."
Domenicali also thanked other Ducati partners, among whom Alice, a long-standing sponsor, San Disk, the contract with whom has been renewed until 2009, and Riello UPS. Finally, he mentioned the newly acquired, important partner Enel, now in a two-year agreement with Ducati.
Wrooom, which in its new edition also includes F1 World Champion Ferrari team events, will end on Friday, 11th January.
On the final day, Friday Jan 11th a spectacular exhibition on the iced lake of Madonna di Campiglio with the Ducati riders and the Ferrari drivers, has marked the official end of a very successful edition of "Wrooom".
