Danilo the best Ducati on Wednesday: "The new bike struck me straight away. I did not think it would be so different"
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Ductalk: What's Up In The World Of Ducati
Ducati News Roundup Curated by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
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Danilo the best Ducati on Wednesday: "The new bike struck me straight away. I did not think it would be so different"
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Ducati is to take advantage of the looser Open MotoGP testing regulations for the first time by sending factory riders Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso to Jerez this week..
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Cal Crutchlow took the new 'Open' Ducati to second fastest during day one of the Phillip Island MotoGP test - despite nearly going "over the handlebars twelve times in five laps!".
For the rest click HERE
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Apart from a brief morning rain shower today, the test was marked by good weather, enabling the riders to focus their work, which consisted mainly of carrying out frame comparisons. They also tried some engine developments and looked for a base setup for the Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera, which will take place at this track in September.
Andrea Dovizioso - Ducati Team (105 laps)
“The Misano track is a bit inconsistent for our bike, but coming from Assen, we immediately felt a bit better at this circuit. We worked on the current bike, finding a setup for the Misano race, and then we went ahead with the development of the laboratory bike, trying some new stuff and finding some interesting things. We were able to do nearly two full days of good work, and today we tried a change with the frame. There were some positives, like an improvement with the feeling on corner entry. We must decide what to do; it’s a new part, so we have to understand whether or not we can have it in time for the Sachsenring.”
Nicky Hayden - Ducati Team (158 laps)
“It’s certainly been a useful couple of days. We didn’t make any drastic improvements, but I tried something with a different anti-wheelie solution that worked quite well, and I’m happy about that for the next two tracks, which are maybe the worst two circuits for wheelies on the whole calendar. We lost a bit of time today with the rain, but in the end I did a low 1:34. That’s not a bad lap time, although we’ll certainly have to do better than that when we come here for the race. We did a lot of laps, mainly with the wheelie control and a different fork setting, and we got some good information.”
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MotoGP Tests in Sepang - Day One on Yahoo! Eurosport UK. View the photo MotoGP Tests in Sepang - Day One and others from our photo galleries.
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Vittoriano Guareschi didn't try to hide his dissatisfaction with Valentino Rossi being just 10th fastest at the end of Sepang testing, but he also knows that the Italian rider worked extremely hard over the last three days: "He completed an enormous workload - the Ducati team manager revealed - testing a large number of different setups and solutions. It's normal that a rider wouldn't achieve maximum performance in this situation, when their priority isn't outright speed, unless they have a bit of luck."
Read more: http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/201203016234/Guareschi-Rossi-could-go-faster.html#ixzz1nzPligXY
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The final day of testing in Malaysia ended on a strong positive note for the Pramac Racing rider thanks to improved weather conditions that allowed the team to work productively on Thursday.
Héctor Barberá completed the day as the fastest Ducati rider on track at Sepang with an excellent sixth fastest time of 2’01.231. The result was very encouraging for the Pramac Racing team, who appreciated being able to see how the times and the performance of their rider improved on par with the work being done in the box.
At this test, the team worked with both bikes, focusing on developing two types of set-up, chassis, suspension, electronics in search of the best possible mix for racing...more
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Ducati Team concludes Sepang test with sunny weather and busy schedule
Despite a negative weather forecast, the final day of the Sepang test was the only one of the three not affected by rain. Valentino Rossi stayed on the track until the last minute in order to complete as much work as possible for the Ducati engineers, who continue working on the development of the GP12. As for Nicky Hayden, despite still not being in perfect physical condition, he continued testing into the afternoon, and on his very last exit, he had a harmless low-speed fall in Turn 1.
Both riders found the new electronics that were introduced at this test to be a breakthrough, although they didn’t find the ideal setup for improving their lap times and ended the day in tenth and eleventh positions. Still, they both reduced their gap to the front considerably compared to the first test.
The next winter test is scheduled for March 23-25 at the Spanish Jerez circuit.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 10th, 2:01.550 (57 laps)
“One small positive note to the day is that we reduced the gap to the front a little bit. It was 1.2 seconds, and now it’s 1 second. It’s also nice that the new electronics work well, but it hurts being down on the timesheets compared to all the others. We tried a bunch of things in order to take a step forward from the first test, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it and were actually worse. It was harder for me to ride well compared to three weeks ago, especially my corner speed. It’s true that this test was more difficult in terms of weather and track conditions, but it seemed to affect us more than the others. Honestly, I expected to do better than tenth. We were also unfortunate because at the best part of the day, when I did a 2:01.5 and we had some tyres to try to lower the time further, we had a problem with the fork that cost us some time. Maybe without that we would have cut another three or four tenths and been further up, but our pace is still about seven tenths back. Honestly, that’s not a huge amount, but anyway we’re still behind. We’re not pleased with how it went this time, but we have to try and work hard and see what happens at Jerez, where the track is very different than this one, with much different weather and temperatures. We’ll see how we do there.”
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 11th, 2:01.609 (44 laps)
“Of course I would prefer to have been closer to the front, but it’s my first real test of the year. The bike feels better on braking and into the corner, and I like the feedback it gives me. Also, the lap times don’t seem as affected when the track gets hot and greasy. We need to work on some chatter and on corner exits. We have plenty of ideas, as there are a lot of things we didn’t get to try this week because of the weather. Toward the end, I lost the front end in Turn 1 and crashed, but it was an easy one and I’m fine. I’m happy with how my shoulder is coming along. I hope that with three more weeks of recovering and rehab, it should be close to 100 per cent for Jerez.”
Filippo Preziosi (General Manager, Ducati Corse)
“It was sunny for the last day of the Sepang test, and after almost completely losing the first two days due to rain, we had to concentrate a lot of work into a relatively short time. Clearly, situations like that make it more difficult to achieve maximum performance because the setup changes continuously. Today Valentino is tenth and Nicky is eleventh, and obviously we would prefer to be further up. Anyway, they both liked the new electronics package that we had for this test. We’ll keep working hard between now and the next test at Jerez, where we’ll try to put everything we have together and optimize it.”
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Czech rider Karel Abraham will take no further part in the Sepang MotoGP test due to back injuries he sustained following a crash at Jerez last week.
Abraham managed only three laps in Malaysia before pulling out and has opted return to his home country to continue his recuperation.
The Cardion AB Racing rider's Ducati GP12 machine was taken over by Ducati test rider Franco Battaini, who clocked the 13th fastest time, 3.8s behind Repsol Honda pace-setter and reigning champion Casey Stoner.
A disappointed Abraham said: “It's a shame because we lost a lot of time that we could spend by working on the bike. But it doesn't make any sense to continue with such a pain and the chance that the injury would heal during the next two days is quite small....more
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Ducati arrived in Malaysia with both Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden still not at 100% fitness following their respective post Sepang 1 surgeries, but that didn’t keep Hayden from being the fastest Ducati rider on track and pipping his own team mate by a little more than one tenth of second and finishing in 6th spot on the first day.
Despite an early start by both riders, a dirty track and then the rain storm interrupted their testing schedule without Rossi having tested the upgraded electronics package that the test team tried out during the private test a Jerez last week, leaving the Italian in the 8th spot with the usual almost 1.5 second gap from the top of charts.
Rossi also debuted his graphics on the new and more aerodynamic AGV helmet that also includes a tribute to the late Marco Simoncelli.
Nicky Hayden - 2:03.132 (32 laps)
“I’m obviously still not at 100 percent, but considering I had shoulder surgery three weeks ago, it went better than I expected. I felt much better than at the last test and was able to give some good feedback, so I owe a big thanks to Dr Ting and his staff. This is the first time I could really ride this bike well, and I enjoyed it....more
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(translated from Italian)
There is no sign of concern in the voice of Vittoriano Guareschi, while analyzing the first day of testing the Ducati on the track at Sepang . The eighth time, Valentino Rossi, 1 "484 the gap to Stoner, is due to a series of unfortunate coincidences and not a regression of the GP12. " We are serene , the level of the bike is always that of the previous tests, because today we were not able to try almost anything new , "notes the team manager.
What has happened?
" This morning Valentine came to the track early, but the conditions were very bad and there was no grip and ran 3 seconds slower than references in previous tests. The situation has gradually improved, but we decided to hold the second rubber for the afternoon, so Smith has done his best time with a tire which had already completed 22 laps . "
It was not possible to use the harder tire?
" I know that has tried unsuccessfully Dovizioso and Franco Battaini has also mounted in the morning to do the shake down the bike to Nicky, but did not provide sufficient grip is useless . "
Then the rain ruined the plans.
" Yes, it rained very strong and then we took the opportunity to find out how's the GP12 in the wet. Valentino came out with the rain and said that the feelings are very similar to those on GP11 , a bike that was going on very well ' water. We started to try some adjustment, but then the track dried and the track was half wet and half wet pointless to do other experiments , it would only be dangerous . "
The good news is that tomorrow you will have 4 tires available.
Read more: http://www.gpone.com/index.php/201202286205/Guareschi-domani-ci-rifaremo.html#ixzz1nh8ULaD9
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Valentino Rossi believes the first day of Sepang testing was largely a waste for him due to the track and weather conditions, and a tactical error...
The former champion was only eighth quickest on his Ducati, as the field managed limited dry running before rain hit the Malaysian venue.
"It's a bad day because we didn't have enough time for our work," Rossi told the official MotoGP website.
"We were also a little bit unlucky because this morning I went out very, very early but the condition of the track was bad - dirty and slippery from the cars of last week. When the conditions became better, we already had more than 20 laps on the tyre. We decided to wait for the afternoon to use the other good tyre but unfortunately the afternoon had rain....more
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MotoGP Results.MotoGP lap times as of 11am on Tuesday, during the first day of the second official Sepang test.
esting began at 10am and concludes at 6pm.
All twelve manufacturer riders are again present for the three-day test, plus the Forward Racing and BQR 'Claiming Rule Teams'.
Factory Ducati rider Nicky Hayden and Tech 3 Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso will be hoping their healing injuries will allow for greater track time than at the first test, while Karel Abraham (Cardion AB) could struggle with a back injury sustained at the recent private Jerez test...more
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Rossi will use this week’s second Sepang test in Malaysia to concentrate on new electronics aimed at improving stability under acceleration with the radical new Ducati GP12 machine.
Rossi and team-mate Nicky Hayden struggled with corner exit handling during the first Sepang test earlier this month but both will have new electronics tested by development rider Franco Battaini in Jerez last week at their disposal....more