Ducati 'working hard' to keep Casey Stoner

Ducati bosses say they will leave no stone unturned to ensure Casey Stoner is not tempted by a rival offer to quit the Bologna factory at the end of the 2010 MotoGP world championship.

Honda has already started negotiations with the Australian about a move to ride a factory RC212V next season, with Livio Suppo talking to Stoner’s father Colin during the recent Spanish MotoGP race at Jerez.

But Ducati is desperate to retain the services of its prized asset, who won the world title for the Italian company back in 2007.

Stoner has won 20 races for Ducati and has been an essential element of Ducati’s premier class success.

As yet, no other rider has come close to emulating Stoner’s dazzling performances, though Nicky Hayden has already shown vast improvement in the opening two rounds of 2010 with successive fourth places.

As it stands at the moment, Stoner looks favourite to clinch a new deal with Ducati, but factory team boss Alessandro Cicognani told MCN: “We would like to keep Casey but we don’t want to push him. I don’t expect anything to happen until around Barcelona time in early July. But we spoke with Casey’s father. For sure there is a lot of pressure from other factories that have interest in Casey. He knows what he has at Ducati and he likes the team, so we are working as hard as possible to make everything better for Casey.”