DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM STARTS TESTING AT PHILLIP ISLAND
 New
track for the Ducati-Bridgestone pairing as Desmosedici GP5
development continues in Australia.
Phillip Island (Australia), 17 February 2005 - The Ducati
Marlboro Team leaves behind the torrid heat of Sepang after
three days of winter testing that concluded last Sunday to
begin another three-day session, this time at Australia's
Phillip Island circuit.
Spring-like temperatures of around 20° (track 40°)
characterised the first of the three days of testing scheduled
for the Italian team. This gave Ducati Marlboro Team riders
Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa an ideal opportunity to set
up the Desmosedici GP5 and put in a considerable amount of
mileage around the technical island circuit.
Ducati engineers focussed mainly on suspension set-up today,
and several different solutions that had already been tested
previously were again used in preparation for tomorrow, when
the work will specifically revolve around the development
of the Bridgestone tyres.
Carlos Checa, who was quite satisfied with his first intense
day of activity on the Australian track, completed 89 laps,
setting a quickest time of 1m30.69s. The Spanish rider tried
several different set-ups and was pleased with the handling
of his Desmosedici GP5.
"Yes, I managed to establish a good feeling with the
bike today, but we still have a lot of work to do", admitted
Carlos. "If the weather tomorrow is the same as today,
we will be able to test the rear tyres in excellent conditions".
Loris Capirossi was able to leave his bout of flu behind
in Malaysia together with the stifling heat and humidity and
he returned to the track rested and determined to get the
most out of this penultimate winter testing session. Loris
totalled 78 laps, ending the day with a best time of 1m30.81s.
Even though Loris's team concentrated on obtaining a good
race set-up, the Italian rider went out a few times with tyres
that had been used previously and tested a number of different
rear suspension solutions.
"I'm a lot better now and it feels good to get back on
the track again" declared Loris. "I want to use
every minute of these tests to continue the development of
the bike. Today we focused on the suspension set-up, we worked
well and succeeded in laying the groundwork for the next two
days we will be spending here".
The Ducati Marlboro Team will continue testing at
Phillip Island on:
Friday 18 February
Saturday 19 February.
|
