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About Casey Stoner

In 2006, at twenty years of age, Casey accomplished his long held ambition of racing in MotoGP. He set pole position in his second MotoGP race in Qatar and battled for the win until the final corner in the GP of Turkey, finishing runner-up just a fraction behind winner Melandri. Too many errors conditioned the second part of the year, but Casey, in finishing eighth overall in his rookie MotoGP season, demonstrated that he was in amongst the elite group, of which he is the youngest rider.

In 2007 Casey Stoner has joined the Ducati Marlboro Team. On March 10, 2007, at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, Stoner won the first grand prix of the season, the first ever 800cc grand prix, and had his first win in the MotoGP class. After that the young Australian took other nine wins, four further podium finished and scored five pole positions. On September 23rd, in Japan, Stoner secured Ducati's first MotoGP World Championship becoming the first rider in over 30 years to win the MotoGP title on a European made bike and the second youngest premier-class World Champion, after American legend Freddie Spencer.

The following year Stoner set out to defend his title and began his quest with a fantastic victory in the first GP to be held at night, in Qatar, but this was followed by a series of highs and lows that saw him lose ground in the classification. Nevertheless Stoner continued to work tirelessly with his team until a breakthrough came during the tests following the Catalunya GP when the Ducati technicians identified a method to maximise the potential of the GP8. Three consecutive victories followed in the UK, The Netherlands and Germany but then, after the hard-fought podium at Laguna Seca, two falls at Brno and Misano, and a physical problem caused by the reopening of an old fracture to his left wrist, the defense of the title seemed impossible. Improvement towards the end of the season with two podiums and another two convincing wins, in Australia and at the final round in Valencia, meant that Stoner closed the season as the vice-champion of 2008 with the highest ever points score.