Win a “big relief” for Stoner

Casey Stoner’s first victory of 2010 came from pole position on Sunday as the Ducati Team rider put together a strong race to win by over five seconds ahead of Dani Pedrosa.

The Australian dealt with pressure from Pedrosa throughout the first half of the race before eventually pulling away to win by a comfortable margin, and the taste of victory for the first time since Malaysia last season was a sweet one for Stoner.

“This win is a big relief, to be honest!” said Stoner, who last started from pole in the season opening race at Losail. “We had the first race in Qatar wrapped up until I made a mistake and their have been other opportunities to win this year that I have missed out on through my own errors.”

“We have had a lot of problems trying to find the final two or three tenths to run with Dani and Jorge this season but we changed the bike completely this weekend to adjust my position on it and got it working almost how we want it to.”

There was slight cause for concern for Stoner and his crew when he fell during the morning warm up session, but he responded excellently in the race.

“I had a little slip off in warm up this morning which was a worry going into the race,” he admitted. “I was staying away from every white line that I could over the first few laps but we were able to pick up the pace when we needed to and bring home a win. I want to thank the team, the factory and everybody who has stuck by me – I'm just sorry it took so long!”

With the result Stoner moved into third position in the Championship standings and team-mate Nicky Hayden’s third-placed finish delivered Ducati their first double podium since Australia 2007.