Ducati vow not to change approach

Team manager Livio Suppo thinks it would be wrong for the team to start playing the percentage game in the final races of the campaign, even though Stoner is currently 44 points clear of Valentino Rossi in the standings.

"I think if we change it is a big mistake," Suppo told autosport.com. "Casey must try to do exactly what he has done so far, which is to do his best.

"What he likes is to lead. If I know him enough, he is not the kind of rider who goes on the track and thinks. He is the kind of rider who goes on the track and enjoys."

With Yamaha crew chief Jeremy Burgess having said that he believes the title is now Ducati's to lose, Suppo insists that he is still wary of misfortune intervening in the championship battle.

"If Casey keeps the form he has at the moment, and he has no bad luck, then it will be difficult for anyone else to win. But it must be Casey in the same shape and no bad luck.

"To win the championship you need luck, without it you go nowhere. I think it was Napoleon who said that if he had to choose between a good general and a lucky one, he would choose the lucky one.

"You can be the best one in the world, but without luck you have nothing."

And Suppo has not ruled out Repsol Honda from the title battle, especially after Dani Pedrosa's dominant victory at the Sachsenring in July.

"What Honda have now already is enough with the factory bikes," he said. "If you look at the Sachsenring, Pedrosa dominated.

"So I think sure Pedrosa is one of the contenders for the title. The gap is quite big but there are still seven races and a lot of points. I am sure they can do very well."