New Ducati to be 'more rideable'

While Casey Stoner revelled in the power of recent Ducatis and won the 2007 title before finishing second to Valentino Rossi last year, his teammates Loris Capirossi and Marco Melandri struggled to tame the GP7 and GP8 bikes.

Ducati Corse CEO Claudio Domenicali said that the latest GP9, which will be unveiled to the press in Italy tomorrow, should address this problem, without any loss of straightline speed.

"One of the most relevant (changes) is an evolution of the engine management system, with a new combination of airbox and mapping that should provide a flatter power curve and improve rideability, as well as improving outright power, which currently remains more or less the same as last year," he said.

The most notable innovation on the Desmosedici GP9 is a carbon fibre frame, which was first evaluated by Ducati's test rider Vittoriano Guareschi last summer.

"It is a change we have thought about and tested for a long time, firstly with Vittoriano, who is always our first point of reference," said Domenicali. "He gave his approval to the new system and then the official riders tested it at Barcelona.

"We won the MotoGP world championship with the trellis frame so it clearly a very effective design but we have been looking to take another step forward that can help us overcome some of the problems we've had, specifically with the MotoGP bike."

Ducati were unable to hang on to their championship title last season, but Domenicali reckons this was due more to an incredible performance by Yamaha's Valentino Rossi than any shortcomings of the Italian bikes.

"When you look at the numbers we won six races, set pole position on nine occasions and set the fastest lap in eight races," he said.

"If it wasn't for probably the best Valentino ever, coming back from two difficult seasons and rediscovering the strength to have an exceptional season, those numbers would have surely added up to a successful defence of the world title.

"When you consider these excellent results and the fact that Casey is still only 23 years old, with plenty of potential to improve even more, once the disappointment is out of the way we can't be anything but satisfied with 2008 and confident about the season to come."