Prior to the beginning of the MotoGP World Championship series, reigning titlist Casey Stoner sent the first shot over the bow of the 2008 season by ripping off an amazing lap of 1:49.263 on the Circuito de Jerez during the prestigious BMW M Award Qualifying Shootout. On his new Ducati Marlboro Desmosedici GP, Stoner was nearly a second and a half quicker than the 2007 Gran Premio Bwin.com De Espana winner, Valentino Rossi. The Australian then backed up his Jerez fast lap with a dazzling season opening win under the klieg lights at the recent Grand Prix of Qatar. This weekend Stoner and the entire MotoGP contingent will hear south for the second race of the year: The Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez de la Frontera. And while Stoner was blazingly quick here in pre-season testing, he was only able to place fifth in the 2007 Jerez GP. So should the Ducati contingent be concerned when Stoner and teammate Marco Melandri put tires to the famed and flowing 2.748-mile, 13-turn Spanish circuit?

“Last year Jerez was one of the most difficult races for Casey but during both tests here in November and February he managed to improve his performance a lot and ended up very fast in both sessions,” offers Livio Suppo, Ducati MotoGP Project Director. “He is in incredible form, as he showed in the first GP in Qatar. His confidence in the bike and tires is definitely even higher than it was a year ago so I think that at Jerez he can also be amongst the frontrunners. We’re also expecting an improved performance from Marco, who we think learnt a lot in the first race. There is no doubting his talent - it is only three races since the penultimate round of 2007 at Sepang when he produced an outstanding display to finish second behind Casey. Now, with the improved feeling he found with the Desmosedici during the race in Qatar, I’m sure the results will start to come for him too.”

Adds Stoner himself: “You could say that Jerez last year wasn’t one of our best races, but winter testing went well there and with the general improvements we’ve made since last year I think we can be competitive next weekend. We worked well with the Bridgestone technicians there and tested a lot of different types of tire, so we should be well prepared to pick the right one for the race. There are a lot of riders who have started the season strongly, especially the rookies, amongst them riders who will want more of the same and riders racing at home, so they’ll be very motivated. We just have to try and make sure we do our job well and then try to achieve the best result possible.”