Seven times World Champion Valentino Rossi is no exception to the rule of riders going faster at their home Grand Prix. Ducati and Casey Stoner have had the edge over the Italian champ recently. However, Rossi overcame the opposition and changeable weather conditions to score his sixth straight victory at home at the Mugello circuit, nestled in the picturesque Tuscan hills.
"To win in Mugello once again is an incredible emotion for me and I am very happy at this moment. Racing in front of the fans here is always something unbelievable and they give me an extra motivation,” said Rossi.
A measure of the high profile in Italy of MotoGP was the number of celebrities and motor racing legends at the meeting. Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher chatted with five time World Champion Mick Doohan on the grid, while Italian actors and politicians worked the pits and the press cameras.
Changeable weather dogged Friday and Saturday with practice and qualifying sessions mainly run in wet conditions. In final qualifying a mixture of showers gave way to periods of a drying track then more showers.
"I'm very happy about this front row because today was really a bit of a 'casino' with the weather and I think anything could have happened!” said Rossi.
Series leader, Casey Stoner, took advantage of a drying period to set an unbeatable time and claim his first pole of the season before as more rain arrived. The limited practice on a dry track dry practice meant the teams were unsure of the best dry race set up.
“It's been really confusing this weekend. This morning wasn't really dry, there were a few wet patches but you could petty much ride it like a dry session, so we've been able to make our settings from that,” said Stoner on Saturday.
Sunday afternoon the race ran in dry sunny conditions, although with grey clouds suggesting the possibility of rain that never arrived. From the start Stoner led while Rossi went backwards to eighth place.
Another Italian, Loris Capirossi also on a Ducati, challenged Stoner and led momentarily. “I lost the front and risked falling, so that I lost some confidence in the front and I wasn't able to maintain such a fast pace, I had to slow my rhythm,” said Capirossi.
Dani Pedrosa also had a brief turn at the front before a recovering Rossi on a Yamaha took the lead. Rossi built a gap through the fast flowing turns that Pedrosa’s Honda power advantage could not make up down the long Mugello straight.
“My team have worked brilliantly, my bike was perfect and I could ride it exactly how I wanted, I need to say a huge thank you to them and also to Michelin,” said Rossi.
Fiat Yamaha team director Davide Brivio reinforced the significance of this result for the team.
“The entire group has worked very hard recently after some difficult races to bring us back to the top step. This is just one race but it's a very important one, ” said Brivio.
Stoner did his best to hang on to third place for most of the race, only to be overtaken by veteran Alex Barros on another Ducati.
"That was a very difficult race. After warm-up we knew we would struggle a bit but I thought maybe we could make the podium,” said Stoner.
Despite not making the podium Stoner’s boss was pleased. “ Once again I was amazed by Casey's coolness and determination in getting so close to the podium,” said Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Corse.
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