BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX TEAM) WARMS UP FOR SUPERBIKE START
WITH QUICKEST TIME IN VALENCIA TESTING - LANZI TAKES SECOND
SLOT
Valencia (Spain), Tuesday 7 February 2005: The Ducati Xerox
Team completed its final pre-season testing programme with
more excellent times set by 2001 champion Troy Bayliss
and his team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi. The Australian, who returns
to Superbike this season for the Italian manufacturer after
a three-year spell in MotoGP, continued the superb form he
has shown so far in testing since signing for the Ducati Xerox
Team at the end of last year and ended the two-day session
at the top of the timesheets with a time of 1m34.45s.
"The first time I tested here in November I did a 36
and now today on the race tyre I did a 34.4 which is quite
an improvement" declared Troy, who covered 133 laps of
the Valencia track on his Ducati 999F06. "Obviously I
feel pretty comfortable on the bike and things are going really
well so that makes me happy. The start of the championship
is just around the corner and we haven't had to change the
bike a lot since I first hopped on it. I'm feeling confident
and I'm sure I'm going to be a contender for the championship
and especially for the race wins. It's been quite a while
since I've won so I'm a bit excited about that and can't wait
to get one under my belt. I'm very impressed with the bike
and feel good on it. I haven't felt this much at home for
a long time!"
Lorenzo Lanzi (136 laps in two days) took
a bit more time to settle into the rhythm of the test, but
made a big improvement on the second day to end up second
quickest on race tyres with a time of 1m35.6s
"I felt that I rode well and am pleased with that, I
made a good improvement over yesterday when I struggled to
get into the groove and back onto the bike after a break of
two months" said Lorenzo. "Today I did some good
times, on race tyres we're just two or three tenths away from
Troy's pace with 1m35s. The feeling with the bike is good
and we learnt a lot these two days so I now think we're ready
for Qatar. The championship finally gets underway in a couple
of weeks time and it'll be great to get back to racing, especially
with the factory Ducati, and the prospects are looking good".
The 2006 World Superbike Championship gets underway on February
25th at the Losail Circuit in Qatar.
UNOFFICIAL TIMES (courtesy of Pirelli):
1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m34.4s (Qualifying tyres - 1m34.3s);
2. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m35.6s (Q - 1m35.4s); 3. Toseland
(Honda) 1m35.8s (Q - 1m35.2s); 4. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m35.9s
(Q - 1m35.4s); 5. Neukirchner (Ducati) 1m36.4s; 6. Abe (Yamaha)
1m36.4s; 7. Clementi (Ducati) 1m36.6s; 8. Rolfo (Ducati SC)
1m36.6s; 9. Borciani (Ducati) 1m36.7s; 10. Foret (Suzuki)
1m36.9s.
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