Ducati Team prepares for 2nd home race

Sunday’s Grand Prix of San Marino and of the Rimini Riviera be the second home event for the Ducati Team, and it’s an important round for Valentino Rossi, who lives a short distance from the track. He has two wins at the circuit, in 2008 and 2009, as well as a podium last year.

Though it looks rather simple, the Misano track is actually quite technical and slow, with narrow, short-radius corners. The notable exception is the famous “Curvone,” a fast, challenging right-hander.

The Ducati Team will be busy with the hard work of finding the best setup for the Desmosedici, and both riders will be supported as usual by the fans filling the Ducati grandstand in the “Variante Parco,” the first corner after the start-finish straightaway.

VALENTINO ROSSI:
“We’ll be racing in front of our home fans at Misano, and obviously we’d like to do better than we have at recent races. Indianapolis was very difficult, and we would have preferred to arrive here in better shape, but we’re aware that much of our work is aimed toward the future. For the moment, we must take into account the possibility that our results won’t be satisfying, first for us but also for our fans. We’re all working at our maximum, both at the track and in the company, and in the meantime, we’ll try to do as well as the current situation allows.”

NICKY HAYDEN:
“Indy was a bad race, but some how, some way, you’ve got to try to get over it and move on. Misano has been a tough track for me, because it seems like I can’t ever get through the first corner. It would be nice to catch a bit of a break, because I don’t feel like we’re always getting the results we deserve. We learned a lot about the new bike in Indy, so I hope we’ve got a good starting point there. We’ll see what the weather’s going to do. Hopefully it won’t be too hot, as that makes things more difficult for us. Anyway, we need to do our best and try to improve our bike.”