While most MotoGP fans seem to be already writing off Valentino Rossi next season, following his Ducati debut at Valencia, despite the positive words from crew chief Jeremy Burgess who says there’s no need to panic and “anybody who bets against us will want to have plenty of money in their pocket.”

Rossi’s former arch rival, Sete Gibernau, who rode a Ducati in 2006 and part of 2009, is convinced that the Italian will get his head around the Italian beast (Rossi’s entire pit crew is in Bologna this week for meetings and for bike building lessons on the red machine) believes it will be a success story.

The Spanish rider who was a guest at the at the “Insieme” charity dinner held in Milan, was asked what he thought of Rossi’s move to Ducati and could the Italian tame the Desmosedici, “If he decided to switch, it was to get some new motivation, which is fundamental in working hard and always giving a 100%.” said Gibernau. “Of course there was also a lot pressure from the fans, who’ve been wanting him in Ducati for a long time. If he manages to win the title it would be a great event. ”

Continue reading: Sete Gibernau: "Rossi is very good, he can tame the Ducati"

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Valentino Rossi final took to the Valencia track at 12:20 pm onboard the Ducati Desmosedici for the very first time and his first timed lap was 1.44.773.

His first run with the new machine was under twelve laps, the best of which was a 1.37.329 and now is back on track for a new run after talking with his staff, but Randy de Puniet who is also on the Ducati for the first time is almost a second faster.

More news later on.

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It’s official, we love Alex Briggs and Twitter. Valentino Rossi’s Australian mechanic has given us this sneak peek of Rossi’s new Ducati ride with all the rider’s beloved stickers on it.

The bike is black because Rossi is still contracted to Yamaha and he’ll be wearing logo free dark leathers and we won’t be getting any direct comments from the Italian on this two day test, a condition that Yamaha demanded in order to let him test. The Valencia test thould kick off in a few minutes, if the weather holds up because it’s threatening rain.

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We’ve got to admit that Letizia Marchetti (professional rider and a Superbike Ducati Desmo Challenge winner) and Belen Rodriguez (the model) fill out and look better than Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner do in Ducati red.

The advert was filmed at Jerez de la Frontera by TIM, one of Ducati’s sponsors, and is aired every Gran Prix weekend in Italy.

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What can a loving dad do for his Ducati mad 14 year-old daughter? Kikka wanted a Ducati, but the Italian manufacturer doesn’t make 50cc race replicas like other bike companies, so daddy gets a beat up Aprilia RS 50, puts in hours of work to put the machine back into condition, gives it a Ducati Desmosedici GP livery paint job adds the sponsor stickers and voilà Kikka is the only girl on her block to have her own Ducati Casey Stoner #27 replica.

Source | motoblog.it

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While Italy was going all out in celebrating Max Biaggi’s 2 race win at Portimao, with the recurrent theme of an Italian on an Italian bike, Oberdan Bezzi dreamed of another Italian duo that he’d like to see get together.

Obiboicame up with this iconic rendering; the famous Martini racing colours on the Ducati Desmosedici’s livery and branded it with Valentino Rossi’s racing number and as he calls it: “the ingredients for an all Italian dream.”

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Here’s the Ducati Desmosedici RR vs the Ferrari F430 Scuderia in a track race from the guys at MCN. While it could be considered another gratuitous test of the age-old car vs bike debate, but this time the guys have gone up market and are indulging in two of the best road machines out there, regardless of number of wheels.

This Desmosedici RR is road replica of Loris Capirossi’s 2006 bike, with full carbon-fibre fairing, Marchesini wheels and racing tyres, and 203 hp. It’s up against the 510 hp of the Ferrari Scuderia. Check it out in the video.

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It didn’t take long for someone to put Casey Stoner’s sighting warm up lap crash at Valencia on YouTube, let’s see how long it takes Dorna to take it off.

Ducati’s Fillippo Preziosi was hard up in trying to explain Stoner’s highside to Paolo Beltramo, pitlane commentator for Italia 1 saying that they would have to download the data before understanding what exactly happpened, while Ducati’s new team manager Vitto Guareschi just chalked it up to cold tires. We’re still waiting to hear from Stoner.

UPDATED:

After the jump you can read the the explanation on why Stoner crashed:

Continue reading: MotoGP Valencia - Casey Stoner Crash Video

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We revealed two weeks ago in another post that Ducati’s official test rider Vittoriano Guareschi had been promoted to play liaison between Filippo Preziosi and the Ducati riders and you saw Guareschi on the podium at Sepang next to Stoner.

The Italian started his career in the Italian 125 cc Sport Production Series with Cagiva and ended his professional racing career in 2001 after racing for Ducati in WSBK Championship finishing16th in the standings.

The iconic Guareschi whose distinctive hairstyle (his brother Gianfranco aka “il Guaro” has the same hairstyle and is also a motorcycle racer) is a favorite among Ducati fans and has a fan club on Facebook and excellent off track relationships with almost all of the Italian riders.

In this week’s number 34 issue of Motosprint, Guareschi gave his first interview to explain his new role in the team adding that he isn’t going to give up testing completely:

Continue reading: Vitto Guareschi talks about his new role in Ducati

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After ten weeks and thousands of pages of theories, rumors and speculation, here’s Ducati’s press release that announces Casey Stoner’s return to racing for the Estoril GP.

The release contains a detailed account of Stoner’s medical condition that made made the Aussie rider sit out three Gran Prix’s.
No viruses, no infections, just low blood pressure and a sodium imbalance that caused extreme fatigue and a certain loss of muscle functionality.

Here’s part of the Ducati press release regarding Stoner, the rest you can read here.

During two months away from racing under the supervision of an expert medical team in his homeland (Dr. Neil Halpin, Sport Physician, Dr Jeremy Coleman, Consultant Physician, Dr Harry Grunstein, Endocrinologist and Professor Jonathan Silberberg, Cardiologist), who have remained in touch with Prof. Fabio Catani (Specialist in Pathology and Locomotive System at the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute of Bologna and Ducati’s doctor for several years) and Dr Claudio Macchiagodena of the Clinica Mobile, Casey has undergone a series of exams and special tests.

The results of the tests have excluded pathological anomalies of cardiovascular, respiratory or neurological origins. The exams and inspections also failed to show up any kind of virus or infection.

Continue reading: It's Official, Casey Stoner is Back

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While Marco Simoncelli was in the media limelight with his two day test on the Aprila RSV4, Mattia Pasini was quietly concluding his three day test on the Ducati Desmosedici GP9, despite two spills, one yesterday and one today. The Italian rider today registered a best time of 1.51.9 out of 40 laps , while test rider Vittoriano Guareschi, testing different updates for the 2010 bike, posted a best time of 1.51.7.

Pasini has received several offers to race in next year’s new Moto2 class, but has yet to decide for which team he’ll be riding for, because he may get an offer to rider in MotoGP from Pramac Ducati.

Mattia Pasini:

“It was really a great and positive experience and I think I could have recorded a faster personal best.Unfortunately I fell this morning at the “Correntaio”, having made a strong start to the day with a good feeling due to the changes we had made towards the end of yesterday’s session. The changes made a difference as today I immediately went a second faster in the first exit. I didn’t injure myself too badly but hurt my neck which perhaps affected my riding; I think that otherwise I would have been able to drop another second before the end of the day. Anyway, I repeat that it has been a fantastic experience and I thank Ducati and the team who have looked after me during these three days. We will see each other again at Estoril next week.”

Continue reading: Mattia Pasini Concludes Testing with Ducati

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Mattia Pasini began his first of a three day test with the Ducati Desmosedici GP9 at the Mugello track today, doing 56 laps and his best time was 1.52.8.

Pasini, rode the GP9 with the Ducati team during the Brno Monday official test, was feeling positive once again even if the asphalt didn’t have a very good grip.

Mattia Pasini:

“It is so much fun to ride the Ducati here at Mugello - this is the circuit to do it at! The surface was a little slippery and we’re not here to set super fast lap times but by the end we weren’t going slowly either. I spent this morning ‘getting my eye in’ for the track and the speed, which is probably more difficult here [than other circuits], but after that we were able to start making a few little changes to adapt the bike to my riding style. This is a wonderful experience for which I would like to thank Ducati once again. I can’t wait for tomorrow because it is important to have more than a single day on the bike and to get back on it after sleeping on things overnight and allowing all the feelings and excitement of today to sink in.”

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