Ducati revert to 2007 parts

Ducati Corse technical director Filippo Preziosi has revealed that the Italian manufacturer had reverted to some elements of its all-conquering GP7 bike in an effort to cure some of the problems with the current GP8.

World champion Casey Stoner has been unable to match his dominant 2007 form since winning the opening race of the season in Qatar and has complained the the GP8 is inconsistent and difficult to predict in comparison to its predecessor.

But the Australian admitted he was much happier with his bike after scoring a competitive podium finish in last weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

"It was my idea: we go back backwards to take a step forwards," Preziosi told Italian magazine Motosprint. "We've decided on some changes. We now use 2007 components together with others from 2008. It's both mechanical parts and electronics.

"This way we got rid of a malfunction that wasn't very evident either in testing or in the Qatar GP. The problem was in some parts, and then both in the hardware and the software we use."

Preziosi added that it was more important to restore Stoner's confidence in the bike than to continue development on the GP8 for now.

"After Shanghai, Casey told me: 'I can't do two identical laps anymore,'" he said. "I suggested to him to lose a bit of torque, which after all doesn't influence the speed much: our performance remains similar.

"So, I proposed to him to sacrifice some of the advantages that we got in winter with the GP8. After some post-Qatar races, our bike had a behaviour that changed lap after lap, taking the feeling away from Casey.

"The torque curve was better but had some malfunctions and the bike wouldn't do the same thing consistently. It's much more important to be able to predict the bike's behaviour when you ride on the limit, and Casey is always on the limit."

Preziosi said that the changes would not be permanent and that Stoner would switch back to an improved version of the GP8 as soon as Ducati were confident that a solution had been implemented.

"Once the problem is solved, we'll get back to where we were," he said. "At that point we'll have both the better torque curve and the bike's repetitive behaviour.

"I hope in Barcelona already, but for sure we'll have it by Donington."

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