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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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Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Final lap times for the opening day of 2015 MotoGP testing at Sepang..
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Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Pol Espargaro and Andrea Iannone have both been sidelined by injuries ahead of qualifying for MotoGP's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang
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“Marc admitted the error and immediately came to apologise” - Andrea Iannone..
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For the rest and the riders quotes, click HERE
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Ducati's Cal Crutchlow was coy when quizzed on speculation the manufacturer was set to enter the MotoGP 'Open' class but admitted he could see 'positives' in making the change.
Crutchlow was speaking on the first day of the official Sepang MotoGP test, where he tested both the GP13 and GP14 versions of the Desmosedici.
The British star jokingly dodged a question from reporters over the potential for a switch to the 'Open' rules this season, saying: “I know nothing about it. Is there an Open class?”
For the rest click HERE
Looking forward to a year of Full Throttle Cal Crutchlow both on the bike and maybe even more, in the press room...
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The official MotoGP test does not get underway until Tuesday, but Ducati began a private test with its development team at the Sepang circuit today.
For the rest click HERE
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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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Valentino Rossi hasn't hit the panic button yet, but it's clear that he's concerned with the development of his Ducati GP12 after the second preseason test session at Sepang.
Rossi ended the last of three days of testing 10th in the running order, 1.077 seconds behind leader Casey Stoner's Honda. The reduction of the gap between Rossi and the top was encouraging. But Rossi was discouraged by the presence of five satellite bikes - including Hector Barbera's Pramac Ducati - ahead of him on the time sheets and the return of front-end troubles to his bike.
"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," Rossi said. "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...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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Ducati Team makes progress at Sepang despite bad weather
For the second day in a row, poor weather conditions affected the MotoGP test at Sepang International Circuit, where day two was interrupted by precipitation shortly after midday. The track surface didn’t dry, and the teams were forced to suspend their work and wait for tomorrow’s final day.
Nonetheless, Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden carried out a number of tests with the electronics, with both riders reporting positive first impressions. Tomorrow’s weather forecast calls for conditions similar to those of today.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 5th, 2:01.748 (18 laps)
“The weather hasn’t been kind to us. With my condition, maybe I wasn’t going to be able to do many more laps anyway, but we have a lot of stuff to try. It was definitely cooler today, with more rubber on the track, and we went faster. We made a couple of small steps and I would say today was the most competitive I’ve been all year. I like the changes to the electronics, especially at the first touch of the throttle. We talked about going out in the rain, but the risks seemed to outweigh the rewards. I look forward to tomorrow. Hopefully we can put together all the pieces we’ve learned and do some good lap times.”
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 7th, 2:02.130 (18 laps)
“Another day practically lost, which is really a shame because for us it’s very important to ride as much as possible, and today's track conditions were much better than yesterday's. Given that we knew rain was predicted for the afternoon, we tried to focus as much work as possible in just the first twenty or so laps this morning. Using both bikes, we tried the new traction control, some software updates with the wheelie control and other small details that have to do with the seating position. I had good impressions with all of those, so we put it all into the setup of just one bike and put on a new tyre, only for it to start raining. Game over. On the plus side, I had a good feeling with all of the new stuff, so I hope we can work a little longer tomorrow.”
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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
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The first winter MotoGP test finished today at Sepang International Circuit with a day that was affected by rather variable weather conditions, with intense heat in the middle of the day and a shower that cut short the planned work schedule at 5:25 p.m. Nicky Hayden had already finished riding around noon after having tried riding with heavy taping on his painful left shoulder. Still lacking the necessary strength to push hard, he and the team agreed it was best to finish early. As for Valentino Rossi, he continued until the rain arrived, finishing the session with the fifth-best time.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 5th, 2:00.824 (42 laps)
“We on the team are all happy with how this test has gone, especially today. With a 2:00.8, we’re starting to get to a decent time. The two Hondas and the two Yamahas are still ahead of us, but we consider this test to be a starting point. The most positive things we’ve achieved are that the front now lets me ride a little more as I’m able, that the bike reacts well to changes and that we have very clear ideas on what’s still missing. In particular, if we manage to improve the bike’s behaviour on acceleration, we’ll be able to take a consistent step forward. I know that the work has never stopped at Ducati, and now with the information we’ve gathered, they’ll keep working on the areas that we’ve identified. That might take a while, but there’s still some time before the first race. We have to keep improving, so we’re not getting too excited, but I’m pleased with how things have gone so far.”
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 10th, 2:01.729 (19 laps)
“Obviously, I’d like to have done more. I can’t really say it was a real test for me, but I did a few laps each morning in order to at least get a feel for the new bike, get a little data and understand a couple of things. Even in that limited time, I was able to make small improvements and go quicker each day. Ducati did an amazing job with this bike in a short amount of time. It’s smoother than any other Ducati I’ve ever ridden, it looks slick and it’s good to work on. It’s got good power, and the front end is working well, but with the extra power, now we’ve got to find better rear traction at the first touch of the throttle. With the few adjustments we’ve made, everything seems to be going in a good way, so now I just need to get healthy.”
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The first MotoGP™ Test of 2012 finished today at the Sepang International Circuit with a day that was affected by variable weather conditions, with intense heat in the middle of the day and a shower that cut short the planned work schedule at 5:25 p.m.
Nicky Hayden concluded his testing early after trying to ride with heavy taping on his injured left shoulder. Still lacking the necessary strength to push hard, he and the team agreed it was best to finish early. Valentino Rossi continued testing until heavy rain arrived at the circuit, completing the session with the fifth-best time.
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Valentino Rossi remained upbeat about the potential of the all new Ducati Desmosedici GP12, despite losing time and positions during day two of the Sepang MotoGP test.
Rossi, fifth and 0.74s from the top on Tuesday, slipped to seventh and 0.99s behind Honda's reigning world champion Casey Stoner on Wednesday.
But the Italian insisted that his positive first impressions of the freshly-built GP12 had been reinforced and that he had met his lap time target.
“I am quite happy because we made a step compared with yesterday and I was able to reach our target for today, which was to go into the 2min 01sec. I did three or four laps in 2m 01s” said Rossi....more
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Nicky Hayden could only manage 16 laps of running on the second day of MotoGP winter testing at Sepang today before pain from his injured shoulder forced the Ducati rider to pull out.
The American broke his left scapula and fractured two ribs when he fell while training shortly after Christmas. Although he managed 33 laps on the opening day of testing yesterday, today proved harder still....more