POSITIVE END TO QATAR TESTING FOR DUCATI WITH RACE SIMULATION
The final day of testing in Qatar for the Ducati Marlboro
Team concluded positively with both riders satisfied with
their race simulation today. As in Sepang and Phillip Island,
Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner found a good compromise for
the bike and tyre set-up in race configuration which enabled
them to lap at an excellent pace. Despite today's progress,
the team still has to find the best solution for the qualifying
set-up.
Stoner is becoming more and more familiar with his Desmosedici
GP7 machine even though today the Australian did not complete
many laps because he first had a gearbox problem and then,
like several other members of the team, felt sick and opted
to wrap up testing early.
The team now returns to Italy and will almost immediately
head off again next week for the official IRTA MotoGP tests
at Jerez in Spain from 23-25 February. On the Sunday, as per
tradition, the one-hour timed practice session will be broadcast
live on television at 14.05 CET.
Loris Capirossi (62 laps, best time: 1m56.807s)
"I am quite pleased with the way things went today in
race configuration. I did a complete 22-lap race simulation
at a good pace. The tyres remained pretty constant throughout
and we look to be in pretty good shape in comparison with
the others: the bike has improved and so have the tyres. There's
still a lot of work to do with qualifying tyres however. For
the moment we are unable to get the best out of them. We have
to work a lot with Bridgestone to avoid starting too far down
the grid and risk jeopardizing the race. If we analyse everything
today, we are quite happy with the situation. We still have
to improve the set-up of the bike when there is not much grip,
like yesterday, but we are OK if track conditions are good.
We went well at Sepang, Phillip Island and here. Next week
Jerez will be an important session to bring these winter tests
to a conclusion"
Casey Stoner (36 laps, best time: 1m56.834s)
"It was another positive day. I was unable to finish
the race simulation I was doing because they put the red flags
out after 14 laps after someone crashed, but I was going well
until then. We tried several different tyres which were satisfactory,
so was happy with that. Today I didn't do many laps because
I didn't feel well, like several other guys in the team, and
I decided to call it a day before the end of the session and
not test the qualifying tyres. In the last three days, and
since the start of the 2007 tests in Sepang, we have gradually
improved and the feeling with the Ducati is getting better
all the time. It will be interesting to go back to Jerez next
week. For the first time we will test at a circuit where we
have already been and this will help to check on the progress
we have made so far "
Losail lap record : Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 1m57.305s
Losail pole record: Casey Stoner (Honda) 2006, 1m55.683s
Temperature: air 22° / track -
Unofficial times, Thursday 15 February:
Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 1m55.471s
John Hopkins (Suzuki), 1m55.825s
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 1m55.954s
Alex Hoffmann (Ducati), 1m56.315s
Colin Edwards (Yamaha), 1m56.371s
Randy De Puniet (Kawasaki), 1m56.753s
Loris Capirossi (Ducati), 1m56.807s
Casey Stoner (Ducati), 1m56.834s
Alex Barros (Ducati), 1m56.950s
Marco Melandri (Honda), 1m56.980s
Shinya Nakano (Honda), 1m56.980s
Makoto Tamada (Yamaha), 1m57.232s
Toni Elias (Honda), 1m57.246s
Nicky Hayden (Honda), 1m57.269s
Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), 1m57.365s
Kenny Roberts (KR-Honda), 1m57.408s
Carlos Checa (Honda), 1m57.497s
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