Successful debut season not over yet for Spies

Successful debut season not over yet for Spies

Stoner happy to have met expectations with win

Sunday, 17 October 2010

The Ducati rider was extremely satisfied with how his entire Iveco Australia Grand Prix went as he rounded off a strong weekend with victory in his home race for the fourth year running.

Stoner thrilled with home win

Casey Stoner’s superb form at Phillip Island continued on Sunday as the Ducati Team rider won his home GP for the fourth consecutive season.

A comfortable victory by a margin of 8.598s ahead of second-placed Jorge Lorenzo was the result of a highly productive weekend for the 25 year-old, who found the perfect level on his Desmosedici GP10 to take his third win in the last four races.

“This feels really nice. I think when I won two in a row here nobody expected me to make it three but having done that I felt there was a lot of expectation on me today,” said Stoner of his form at Phillip Island.

“To be fair we have been going for the win at the last four races - unfortunately I slipped off on the first lap at Sepang but we've made up for that this weekend. Everything has gone well for us, we have been happy with the bike from the first practice and the support from the fans has been fantastic.”

Stoner confessed to having felt slightly more tense than normal before the race due to the expectation, but he immediately settled into his rhythm and led for the entire 27 laps.

“I have to admit that before the race I was feeling the pressure, I was more nervous than I normally am but maybe I should be like that more often because I didn't make mistakes!” he said. “I am really happy with the way I rode today but every single person in the team has done a great job this weekend so my thanks go to them and I hope we can keep it going to the end of the season.”

The result lifted Stoner into third position in the Championship standings where he now sits eight points ahead of Valentino Rossi and 23 behind Dani Pedrosa with two rounds of the season remaining.

Related Articles