Ducati savour bigger points gap

Rossi fell early in the race while Stoner was running in second, and had the Australian finished in that position he would have opened out a 41-point advantage in the title chase.

But tyre problems saw Stoner fall down the order in the closing stages and he eventually came home fifth, leaving him with a 32-point margin.

With Ducati teammate Loris Capirossi finishing second, having opted for a different construction of tyre, the team could be forgiven for kicking themselves for failing to capitalise on their opportunity.

But Suppo insists the team are delighted with the outcome of the race, both in terms of Capirossi's return to form and Stoner still managing to increase his points advantage.

"We found again, Loris who went on the podium after a great race," Suppo told Italia1 television. "Casey was very good because he did the maximum that could be done with the package he had today.

"They had two different rear tyres: both hard compounds but of different families. It was impossible to know beforehand which one would have done better.

"Clearly Loris's went better but I think Casey had the same one used by Marco (Melandri) and John (Hopkins) and was very good at keeping them behind. It's positive for the championship so it's good.

"It's good to fight. I'm sorry Valentino fell but this is racing. As far as points are concerned it would have been less positive to have a first and second place with Valentino second and us first."

Suppo had nothing but praise for Stoner's continued calm approach to the championship fight - and especially the way he behaved after Sunday's race.

"Casey has an exceptional character: he thanked all the boys in the team. The Bridgestone guys apologized a bit because the tyre had some problems but he's a champion in this too.

"But it was a positive day anyway: he was very good at getting a fifth place in difficult conditions so it's very positive for the championship.

"Obviously Casey had Loris's tyres at his disposal too but he made a different choice. Sometimes a rider feels better with a different tyre. On paper both tyres were of hard compound, so in theory they had the same probability of working well. They were of different families and clearly Loris's went better than Casey's."