THE DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RETURNS TO THE TRACK AT SEPANG
From the snows of Madonna di Campiglio to the oppressive
heat of Malaysia: the Ducati Desmosedici GP6 takes to the
track for the first time in 2006.
Sepang (Malaysia), Monday 23 January 2006: After a week of
relaxation, skiing and training on the snows of Madonna di
Campiglio during the Wroom 2006 - MotoGP press Ski Meeting,
Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau are now in Sepang, Malaysia
for their first 2006 test session today with the Desmosedici
GP6.
The Malaysian circuit, where Loris set pole and won in 2005
and Checa finished third, is well-suited for the Ducati/Bridgestone
pairing, and as a result is an important starting-point for
the new season.
Despite a harmless fall for Loris half-an-hour into today's
first session, the Italian rider worked according to schedule,
concentrating mainly on the search for the best set-up for
the new Desmosedici GP6 which proved to be quick straight
out of the box.
Sete Gibernau continues to get to know his new team and his
new bike and is gradually finding the right feeling with the
Desmosedici GP6.
Loris Capirossi (38 laps - 2m02.54s)
"Things are still not 100% right but I'm pretty pleased
with the first day of testing after the winter break. Today
we worked a lot on the bike set-up and on the new GP6 engine
and I'm happy with the progress we made. We still have to
improve the bike's stability in the quick sections and we
are working mainly to get that right, but for a first time
out things are going well".
Sete Gibernau (56 laps - 2m02.86s)
"I thought there would be a lot of work to do and that
proved to be the case, and that's a big motivation for me.
Today for the first time we searched for adjustments that
allowed me to get a better feeling with my Ducati and the
team is working well to understand exactly what I need to
make me have the best possible feeling with the new bike.
We'll need a bit more time but things have got off to a good
start and I'm feeling really confident".
Temperature: air 31°/track 53.8° C
Unofficial times: 1. Valentino Rossi, 2m02.09s; 2. Nicky
Hayden, 2m02.19s; 3. Marco Melandri, 2m02.28s; 4. Loris Capirossi,
2m02.54s; 5. Colin Edwards, 2m02.60s; 6. Daniel Pedrosa, 2m02.74s;
7. Sete Gibernau, 2m02.86s; etc.
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