MotoGP returns to China

From Marlboro Ducati

After a brief two-week pause in the calendar the MotoGP World Championship fires up again this weekend in Shanghai.

The Grand Prix of China represents the start of the most intense section of the season, with the transcontinental trip to the Orient immediately followed by an extensive European road trip that leads through to the summer.

Casey Stoner has taken the opportunity to spend a week at home in Australia with his wife Adriana, resuming his training programme as he aims to tackle the fourth round of the season in top form.

With three different winners from the opening three rounds of 2008 it promises to be an evenly contested championship. Victor of the opening round in Qatar, Stoner is keen to get back to winning ways at Shanghai, where he already celebrated on the top step of the podium with Ducati last season and in the 250cc class in 2005.

Marco Melandri made it onto an historic podium on MotoGP's first visit to China in 2005 and he scored a solid fifth place there last year. Marco, who was a guest of Enel at the ATP Master Series tournament in Monte Carlo on April 25, is hoping for a return to that kind of form this weekend.

"On paper the Shanghai circuit is one that should suit our package quite well so I'm sure that we'll be strong," said Livio Suppo, MotoGP project director. "Vittoriano (Guareschi) has spent three days testing some new things at Mugello, in particular with the electronics, and we're satisfied with how the GP8 is continuing to evolve.

"Casey had a really good test himself after the race at Estoril and I think we'll also see some encouraging signs from Marco soon."

The Shanghai Circuit is one of the most recent additions to the MotoGP calendar, having only held its first race back in 2005. The entire circuit complex, with its imposing modernist design, is probably the most spectacular on the calendar.

The layout of the track itself was inspired by the shape of the Chinese symbol 'shang', which stands for 'high' or 'above'. It features two long straights, which put huge emphasis on horsepower, but also hosts a mixture of slow corners and hard braking zones which make for a compromised set-up - particularly regarding suspension.