Suppo: All Ducatis will be equal in 09

As well as the works bikes for Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden, Ducati will also be supplying machines to Sete Gibernau at the new Onde 2000 project, and Mika Kallio and Niccolo Canepa on the Alice bikes.

And amid criticisms from some quarters about Ducati only focusing on Stoner, Suppo has made it clear that in 2009 all the Italian bikes, riders and teams will get equal attention.

"The bike will be equal to the factory machine," he was quoted as saying by the official MotoGP website. "Every crew chief is contracted to Ducati, so let´s say that they will receive the same support and the same ability to exchange information. We´re making a big effort to have the maximum support for everyone.

"This season we've been criticised by people so much, saying that the bike is only for Casey (Stoner), but maybe they are forgetting that we've only been off the podium twice."

Stoner and Hayden will be the first riders to try out the GP9 bike in testing at Valencia on Monday, while at the following Jerez test it is hoped all the other riders will get to experience the new machine.