Comparison: Rossi, Stoner, Ducati and Yamaha

MotoGP News
Date: 3/August/2011

It's no secret that MotoGP megastar Valentino Rossi has struggled in his first ten races with Ducati, but how bad is it?

Racing is relative. It doesn’t matter how fast you are - as long as you are faster than the competition.

With that in mind, we've compiled two tables listing how close Rossi has been to the front of the MotoGP field so far in 2011 - in both qualifying and racing - and compared that with Rossi's 2010 form (for Yamaha) at the same circuits.

We then also listed Casey Stoner's performance for Ducati at those tracks last year.

The tables, shown in full below, unsurprisingly confirm that Rossi has slipped backwards - relative to last season - in both qualifying and racing at all ten events.

The tables also show that Rossi is still a long way from equalling the kind of relative pace that Stoner was able to achieve on the Desmosedici.

Of the ten events, Stoner and Ducati only qualified more than a second from pole on one occasion last year. For Rossi and Ducati, it is the exact opposite this year.

In terms of race pace, Rossi has been far from both his 2010 Yamaha form (even after returning early from a broken leg) and Stoner's Ducati performances.

There is one exception, that Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, where Rossi's 2011 race time was within one-second of Stoner's 2010 time.

Unfortunately, that's not an accurate comparison.

The Mugello circuit was completely resurfaced for 2011 and the speedier asphalt meant that this year's Italian GP was won with a finishing time 37.977sec faster than last year.

But despite the slump in relative performance, it's worth remembering that Rossi - with only one podium this year - is still fifth in the championship with 108 points. 

That compares surprisingly favourably with Stoner who, at this time last year, had scored 119 points. Admittedly the Australian had also scored five podiums and was third in the championship.

Stoner went on to win three races at the end of last year and finished fourth overall in his fin al Ducatis season, before making the switch to Repsol Honda for 2011.

Rossi used the original Desmosedici GP11 motorcycle until Assen, where he switched to the revised GP11.1.

Valentino Rossi/Casey Stoner – Times from the Top (Qualifying)

Circuit	Rossi Ducati (2011)	Rossi Yamaha (2010)	Stoner Ducati (2010)
Losail	+1.500s	+0.355s	+0s (pole)
Jerez	+1.428s	+0.356s	+0.309s
Estoril*	+1.110s	+0.361s	+0.539s
Le Mans	+1.053s	+0s (pole)	+0.416s
Catalunya	+0.810s	Injured	+0.364s
Silverstone	+3.761s	Injured	+1.086s
Assen	+1.846s	Injured	+0.288s
Mugello	+1.868s	Injured	+0.613s
Sachsenring	+1.639s	+0.578s	+0.024s
Laguna Seca	+1.033s	+0.710s	+0.191s

* 2010 qualifying cancelled due to weather, times from free practice.

Valentino Rossi/Casey Stoner – Times from the Top (Race)

Circuit	Rossi Ducati (2011)	Rossi Yamaha (2010)	Stoner Ducati (2010)
Losail	+16.431s	+0s (win)	DNF
Jerez	+62.227s (W)	+0.890s	+10.034s
Estoril	+16.555s	+8.629s	DNF
Le Mans	+14.564s	+5.672s	DNF
Catalunya	+7.371s	Injured	+4.956s
Silverstone	+64.526s (W)	Injured	+7.494s
Assen	+30.684s	Injured	+7.022s
Mugello*	+26.450s	Injured	+25.703s
Sachsenring**	+27.576s	+5.623s	+5.257s
Laguna Seca	+30.351s	+13.420s	+3.517s

(W) = Wet race

* Track resurfaced for 2011.

** Restarted and shortened 2010 race (21 laps)