Barros puts 'wrong' Ducati on home podium.

Pramac d'Antin Ducati rider Alex Barros returned to the MotoGP podium for the first time since the 2005 British Grand Prix at Mugello on Sunday - the only problem was he had to beat factory Ducati rider and MotoGP World Championship leader Casey Stoner to do it.

The Brazilian, who started just tenth on the grid, had the fastest top speed of any rider onboard his satellite Desmosedici GP7 - and overtook Stoner with three laps to go. Holding on as the young pretender attempted a comeback, Barros gave the Pramac d'Antin Ducati team their first top three finish of the 800cc era as he denied the factory team a home podium - and three further world championship points - in the process, proving that there are no Ducati team orders at this stage.

"I am of course really happy to have achieved my first podium of this season and it has come at the perfect time," said Barros, a WSBK rider during 2006. "Mugello is the home race for Ducati and Pramac, so I am pleased to be able to give them a fitting result. I would like to say thanks to the entire Pramac d'Antin team for a very good job and to Bridgestone for providing me with tyres capable of scoring the podium. After the fourth place we got in Turkey, I have had my share of bad luck in recent races, so it is good to get such a competitive result. Now, I hope we can continue to show our competitiveness for the rest of the season and fights for more podiums in the future."

"Today was a beautiful race for us and we were finally able to get the result that we have been waiting for this season," added a delighted Luis d'Antin. "To get a podium finish in the home race for Pramac and Ducati was definitely a very important and fitting result. We have been able to show that we are working in the right direction because we have had some bad luck and have not been able to get the results that show our true potential. I am very happy for the team who have always worked very hard and who deserve a day like today. I would like to thank everyone involved, Bridgestone and Ducati for the support that they have been giving and all of our sponsors who were here this weekend in vast numbers to cheer us on."

The second d'Antin Ducati, ridden by Alex Hofmann, finished 11th.