Capirossi talks '07

Loris Capirossi has admitted 2007 will be the biggest of his long and successful racing career as time runs out for him to realise of his ambition of becoming MotoGP world champion.

Speaking at Ducati’s offical team launch last week in Italy, the 33-year-old admitted that he is in the twilight of a career that has carried him to three world titles and 28 race victories including six in MotoGP.

The MotoGP crown though has so far eluded the hard-riding factory Ducati number one and he said: “This is going to be an important season for me because I can’t race for many more years and I have to try and bring home the title I’ve been following for some years.”

“I hope everything is going to work to allow me to get this result. In 2006 we were able to get some great results and worked well as a team but at the end we missed being able to grasp the championship.”

Much of Capirossi’s failure to pip Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden in last year’s epic title scrap owed much to his involvement in the first corner horror crash in Catalunya.

It cost him critical points as he race well below 100 per cent fitness in at least three races and he said: “‘Last season gave me plenty of satisfaction but it also hurt me because we didn’t have the possibility of winning the championship.”

Capirossi returns to track action next week when the seven-week testing ban ends and the majority of the MotoGP grid takes to the track in Sepang, Malaysia.

“We have worked well developing the new bike and found it competitive from the start. We tried many different solutions at the end of last year and we know what we have to focus on.”

“We are going to have some things to try out in Malaysia and I can’t wait to get back on the bike and we’ll be able to see what potential we have.”