Casey Stoner took his second victory of the season and the 40th podium of his career today with a dominant display at Donington Park. As a result the reigning MotoGP World Champion moved up a place to third in the championship, closing the gap by five points to series leader Valentino Rossi and by nine to Dani Pedrosa, who finished in second and third place respectively. Yesterday's rain gave way to high winds today but the dry conditions suited Stoner perfectly and the youngster produced a faultless display from the first lap.
Things were much trickier for Melandri, who was unable to rediscover his positive feeling from the first day and ended up down in sixteenth place.
Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st"This has been a great weekend for us and it's brilliant to know that we're in a position to fight that little bit harder. The last three races have gone quite well for us in general but we've taken a big step forward with the new electronic system, which worked so well at the Catalunya test and then here. After a disappointing start to the season since the opening round at Qatar it's nice to feel as though we're back on track and this weekend went well from the start. We kicked off in free practice with some good lap times and it's just got better and better since then, in wet and dry conditions. Today the bike was perfect, even at the end of the race we had really good traction and I want to thank all my team - Filippo, Vitto and all the people at Ducati - for the hard work they are doing. Now we just hope that this new electronic system will work as well at the rest of the tracks as it has done at Catalunya and Donington Park."
Marco Melandri (Ducati Marlboro Team) 16th"I am so, so disappointed with this and I'm sorry for the team. Probably the only thing we can do right now is put this Grand Prix behind us and try to think about the next race. In such a difficult situation as this, to not even have two consecutive days with the same weather conditions is a huge obstacle because we just haven't got time to find the right way forward. Today I didn't even get the feeling back that I had on Friday in the dry, which wasn't amazing but definitely better than today. Now we have to reset and start again from zero on Thursday."
Livio Suppo (Ducati MotoGP Project Director) "Casey has been extraordinary all weekend and he fully deserved to win. To watch him ride as he has done at Donington is fantastic. We have shown that we know how to stay strong, continue to work on our bike and this win is dedicated to everybody back at the factory who have never stopped working to put Casey in a position to win again. On the other side of the coin we're really disappointed for Marco because it was another very tough race for him and he couldn't even repeat his lap times from Friday. We realise this is a very difficult time for him. I think we have to stay close to him and try to help him in any way we can, so that he can find more faith in the package he has."
