MotoGP 2005

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi stormed to a brilliant second-place finish at Brno this afternoon, his best result of the year so far. The hard-charging Italian was electrifying in the final stages of the race, closing on leaders Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau to cross the line just 1.8 seconds behind winner Rossi after Gibernau hit problems on the final lap. Team-mate Carlos Checa had a less fruitful day, coming home eighth after choosing a different rear tyre.

"That was an unbelievable race!" grinned a delighted Livio Suppo, Ducati MotoGP project manager. "Our thanks go to Loris, who rode brilliantly, to Bridgestone, who've done such a great job over the last few weeks, to Ducati, where all the guys have been working so hard and to our Technical partners as Shell Advance, for their great support. Maybe we were lucky to get second instead of third today, but we've already had our own share of bad luck this season, so maybe we deserved some good luck today! It was a shame that Carlos couldn't fulfil the promise he showed yesterday. Bridgestone made a big step forward here, now we go to Motegi, hoping the new evolution tyres work similarly well at other tracks."

CAPIROSSI: FRONT-ROW START & PODIUM FINISH!
Loris Capirossi had high hopes for today's race after qualifying third fastest for his first front-row start since May's Chinese GP. And the Ducati Marlboro Team man didn't disappoint, even though he didn't make the greatest of starts. Seventh after one lap, Capirossi kept his head, never losing touch with the leaders and moving resolutely forward during the closing stages. Fifth with six laps to go, he dispensed with Nicky Hayden and Alex Barros to move into third place with three laps remaining, then benefited from Gibernau's misfortune.

"I was angry with my start because normally I'm a very fast starter on the Ducati," said Capirossi. "But I knew I was strong - I'd had a very good rhythm all weekend because we focused only on our race set-up. Despite the bad start I stayed cool, I just tried to pass the guys one by one. Towards the end of the race my tyres were good and I was faster than the leaders but I didn't have time to attack them. Anyway, I'm so happy with this podium, even though, to tell the truth, I was lucky to get second and I'm sorry for Sete. My thanks to all the people at Bridgestone and also to everyone at Ducati."

CHECA EIGHTH AFTER A BRILLIANT START
Carlos Checa regretted his tyre choice from the early stages of today's Czech Grand Prix. The Ducati Marlboro Team chose a different rear Bridgestone from that used by his team-mate. The tyre worked well during endurance runs yesterday but not enough in the race. After an impressive start, the Spaniard began to fade from one-quarter distance, eventually crossing the line in eighth spot.

"I was able to push hard during the first few laps but then I felt the tyre performance start to go down," said a disappointed Checa, who rode the fifth fastest lap of the race on lap three, just 0,110 seconds off the best. "I don't think we chose the best tyre for the day, it looks like Loris made the better choice. The same tyre worked well yesterday, then we tried a used version of the same tyre this morning, and though the performance went down a little, it still seemed like the right choice. We expected it to work better in the race."

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