Australia's MotoGP wonderboy Casey Stoner will race with Ducati at least until the end of the 2008 season, the Italian team said on Wednesday, confirming press reports.
Stoner, 21, has won four out of seven MotoGP races this season and currently leads the championship standings by 14 points from Italy's Valentino Rossi.
The fighting spirit shown by the young Australian in last weekend's Catalunya Grand Prix reportedly convinced Ducati to take up an option to keep Stoner for another year after 2007.
In Barcelona the Ducati star frequently exchanged the lead with Rossi and finally beat him to the finish line by a fraction of a second, thanks to his bike's superior power.
"Casey will race with Ducati in 2008 too and I think that at the end of this season we'll be able to think about something concrete for 2009 and 2010 as well," said Stoner's father, who acts as his manager.
"We want Ducati and Ducati wants us," he added.
