Bilan mitigé chez Ducati

[FracK]

CHECA TOP FIVE ON CHANGEABLE ESTORIL TRACK
Ducati Marlboro Team riders Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi each scored top ten finishes after an eventful 28-lap Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril, with Checa an eventual fifth after a difficult opening few laps. Starting from the front row, he dropped down the order until his rear tyre started to work on the cool track conditions and despite wet sections on the track for long periods, he progressed to the top five.

Les deux pilotes Ducati finissent dans les 10 premières places, avec une cinquième place pour Carlos Checa qui était pourtant très mal parti, malgré sa place en première ligne.

With 20 laps remaining the white flag, signifying rain on the track surface and allowing riders to come in and change to machines with a pre-arranged wet set-up, was shown. All riders nonetheless persevered, with Checa making up ground in the tricky conditions and Capirossi battling against the pain of his ankle injury.

La course à eu lieu en grande partie sous drapeau blanc, signifiant que les pilotes pouvaient aller au stand changer de moto suite aux conditions météoriques difficiles, avec des sections mouillées et d'autre sèches. Mais les pilotes ont persévérés en Slick, un changemennt leur ayant sans doute fait predre trop de temps par rapport à la faible humidité de la piste.

Ducati MotoGP Project Manager Livio Suppo stated: "So finally we saw how the new flag-to-flag rules were in a race. That was a typical situation in which it was difficult to make a decision, as it was tough to see how hard the rain was coming but in the end it all worked out. If they had stopped the race I think it would not have been any different. In terms of the result we are more or less happy. Considering everything Carlos had a good fight and he took fifth place from really nothing. Loris, we have to remember, is still injured. So both riders finished with points, both in the top ten. Thanks to all our technical partners, especially Shell Advance and Bridgestone."


Cette course sous drapeau nous a permi de voir pour la première fois comment cela se passe en course. Mais un changement n'aurai pas été bénéfique, et Carlos finit cinquième suite à une jolie bagarre, alors que Loris finit dans le top ten malgré sa blessure

CHECA OVERCOMES TRICKY CONDITIONS FOR FIFTH
The Ducati Marlboro Team rider made a terrific start to the race, capitalising on his front row start, but dropped back, recovering at the finish.
"When you consider the things we had to carry into this weekend, with my shoulder injury and so on, to finish fifth is a positive result. With more side grip in the later laps my suspension started working better and I regained confidence. Then I was able to establish my pace. Fourth was possible but I braked quite hard passing Melandri and ran wide. The most difficult thing today was to see the flags signalling rain when I was on slicks at 300kmph. That was really scary!"

Carlos à fait un départ catastrophique, mais a peu à peu réussi à remonter. Compte tenu de sa blessure, il est plutôt satisfait de sa 5eme position, même si la 4eme était à sa portée. Il nous dit également qu'avoir vu le drapeau blanc alors qu'il était en slick à 300 km/h était queque chose de vraiment terrifiant