Suppo pleased with Stoner's approach

Stoner had taken his first pole position for Ducati in qualifying, but did not have the pace to stay with Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa as the race developed, and was also passed by Pramac D'Antin Ducati of Alex Barros.

The result narrowed Stoner's championship lead over Rossi from 21 to nine points, but Suppo was pleased with Stoner's response to the situation.

"It's a mixed feeling, because you can't be totally happy of course, but neither can you be totally unhappy because if a bad day is a day when Casey is six seconds from the lead, it means we are very strong, no?" Suppo told autosport.com.

"I'm very happy with the reaction of Casey after the race because he was smiling and relaxed. This was a key, crucial race for him.

"It's racing - we cannot win all the races.

"As we always said, there is a long way to go. Casey is only 20 years old, this is his first year with us.

"This is a learning season for him, and he's learning very fast."

Suppo agreed with Stoner's belief that Ducati would have fared better in the race if practice had not been disrupted by rain.

"We had only two hours to set up the bike and tyres because it was wet, and our machine is maybe a bit more complicated," he said.

"Two bikes in the top four, we have to be happy.

"We've never won in Mugello - it's our home track and it would be fantastic to win here, but we also know that Valentino is almost unbeatable here."