Casey Stoner backs Ducati’s Screamer engine plan

Casey Stoner reckons Ducati should seriously consider reverting back to its more powerful Screamer engine for Valentino Rossi in 2011.

The Aussie selected a smoother but less powerful Big Bang engine for 2010 in a bid to improve acceleration and rear traction on the GP10 contender.

Ducati though sacrificed crucial horsepower and now Bologna engineers are preparing to re-visit the Screamer concept when Rossi arrives.

Rossi will test both engine projects in the winter and Stoner reckons the more powerful Screamer engine might be the best option if Ducati has managed to tame a brutal power delivery since he last tried it 12 months ago.

The 2007 world champion told MCN: “It will be interesting to see what they come up with for next year. If they can learn to control the Screamer then it would be a great thing because we lost a bit of power this year.

“They brought an evolution of the Screamer to the Valencia test last year but it was ridiculous, it wanted to rip my arms out and try and spin up and buck and weave. I did a few laps and didn’t want anything to do with it.

“I rode the Big Bang engine and it had a little less bottom end, but it has so much more torque. We’ve shown it was the right decision because once we got the chassis working better the engine was capable of winning races.”

Stoner crashed out of third place during Sunday’s Estoril MotoGP in Portugal. It was his fifth race crash of the 2010 campaign.