Aragon GP: Ducati Friday report

DUCATI MARLBORO PAIR IMMEDIATELY ON THE PACE AT ARAGON CIRCUIT

Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden completed their first laps of the Motorland circuit in Aragon on their Desmosedici GP10 machines today and were both on the pace in both dry and wet conditions.

With the schedule reverting to four practice sessions this weekend, the Ducati Marlboro pair took to the track under grey skies this morning, with Hayden second fastest and Stoner fourth. The clouds darkened and eventually burst just before the afternoon's second session, with the Australian the fastest rider on the wet track by over half a second and Hayden again impressive with the third quickest lap.

NICKY HAYDEN -- (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd (1'50.917)

"I think they've built a track they can be proud of. It's a nice facility, the layout is good and safe. There are some fun sections with blind entries, some fast corners and some slow ones... it's a nice mix. This morning we were second in the dry and then in the afternoon we were third in the wet so it's been a good day. Casey looks strong too so it's good for the team and everybody back at the factory, who are working hard to give us the opportunity to be competitive over the last six races. Hopefully we can pick up the kind of results that they deserve."

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th (1'51.195)

"In the dry session this morning we were more or less happy with the setting. We had a little problem with the balance of the rear wheel that caused some chattering towards the end of the session otherwise I think we could have been a bit faster. Anyway, we were satisfied with how the morning went. We haven't had many wet sessions this year so I think everybody had a lot of work to do this afternoon but we made some progress and at this stage I am happy with the setting in both conditions. As for the circuit, it is quite technical and the last corner is quite different but other than that I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary."

-source: ducati