IRTA team tests, Catalunya, Spain
Friday March 18 2005
DUCATI MARLBORO MEN FIND TYRE & SUSPENSION IMPROVEMENTS
 Ducati
Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa both
made useful forward progress during team testing at Catalunya
today, the first of a three-day session at the Spanish track.
The pair both rode more than 70 laps of the circuit, Capirossi
working well at tyre selection while Checa improved the suspension
set-up of his Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP5.
"Both riders made promising progress towards the end
of the day," said Ducati Marlboro Team technical director
Corrado Cecchinelli. "Loris found a good front tyre that
gives him extra confidence into the corners and Carlos found
an improvement in his rear-suspension settings, so both riders
should be able to push harder tomorrow when we begin testing
a new batch of front and rear tyres from Bridgestone. We wanted
to find a good base set-up here before we started testing
their latest tyres."
Both riders may also evaluate a new engine-braking system
for the first time over the weekend. Factory test rider Vitto
Guareschi tried the new system today, testing it on his own
machines as well as those belonging to Capirossi and Checa.
CAPIROSSI FINDS EXTRA FRONT-END GRIP
Loris Capirossi ended the day eighth quickest and looking
forward to making further progress over the next two days
here. The Ducati Marlboro Team man, who has already topped
several test sessions this winter, was 0.816 seconds off pace-setter
Max Biaggi.
"Today has been more or less good, but we're not yet
at 100 per cent here," said Capirossi, who won the Ducati
Marlboro Team's first MotoGP race here in 2003. "This
afternoon I tested a good front tyre which helped me into
the corners and I'm sure we have more to come from the new
tyres that we'll be trying out for the first time tomorrow.
This is only the first day here and we have plenty of tyre
testing to do here, so I'm sure we will improve."
CHECA IMPROVES REAR-END SET-UP
Carlos Checa's fastest lap of the day was just 0.128 seconds
slower than his team-mate's best. The Spaniard spent the day
working at improving the rear-end set-up for improved control
while accelerating out of turns.
"We have been working to get rid of some suspension
'pump'," commented the Ducati Marlboro Team rider who
will race for the team for the first time at next month's
season-opening Spanish GP. "We made some improvements
which we'll keep working on tomorrow. I'm also hoping to test
the new engine-braking system."
Capirossi: 1' 43.974
Checa: 1'44.102
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