Tuesday's second and final day of post race testing at Le Mans ended early for Ducati, when its engineers discovered the cause of
Casey Stoner's engine failure during Sunday's French Grand Prix.
After studying the available data since the incident, Ducati Corse engineers were today able to pinpoint the component that failed while Stoner was holding third position in the closing stages of Sunday's race.
It was therefore decided not to continue testing on Tuesday afternoon in order to avoid further damage to other engines. Engineers back at the Borgo Panigale factory will now replace the component in question before the team's home race at Mugello in just over a week's time.
However, Stoner had already managed to complete the majority of work planned for the test and had been straight back on the pace this morning on race tyres, setting a lap time almost identical to his Monday best to sit 0.531secs clear of
Valentino Rossi by the end of the morning session.
Stoner's team-mate
Marco Melandri completed only a handful of laps today. With lower ambient and track temperatures he waited until 10:30 before taking to the track, and then stopped at 12:00.
Although all five factory
MotoGP teams were present for testing on Monday, plus Honda Gresini, only four riders returned on Tuesday - Michelin/Honda test rider Erwan Nigon joining Stoner, Rossi and Melandri out on track.
Stoner's engine failure forced the Australian to crawl back to the pits before swapping to his wet weather bike in order to reach the flag. Stoner eventually finished 16th and last, marking his first non-score since joining Ducati at the start of 2007.
