EXCELLENT TEST FOR AIRWAVES DUCATI IN ALBACETE
Airwaves Ducati have completed their winter testing abroad
with outstanding results in Albacete, Spain. Gregorio Lavilla
recorded a time of 1:30.12 on a race tyre whilst team mate
Leon Haslam lapped in a time of 1:30.62.
The team had scheduled a 3 day test at the 3.539 km circuit
but Greg finished his testing plan in 2 days. Over the 603
km’s he completed during the test he recorded a race
simulation time 4.6 seconds faster than last year which was
outstanding.
Leon continued into day 3 to fine tune his settings and investigate
fuel mapping improvements, eventually completing 241 laps.
During the test both riders broke the 1:30 mark on qualifying
tyres with Greg clocking a time of 1:29.96 and Leon 1:29.85.
Throughout the team’s winter testing schedule Dunlop
have made huge progress with the team’s tyre requirements
providing development tyres that have returned superb results.
After such a successful test Greg was clearly happy with
how well things were going as the season approaches saying,
“I am pleased with how the test has gone as we completed
everything that we had planned to do. We concentrated on problems
that we experienced at the end of last season and so far we
have not had a problem with any of those things, which I hope
will continue into the season! I was also able to try a number
of different set up’s which we talked about last year
but have not been able to try until now and they also worked
well. The race run went very well and my times were good.
If the bike and Dunlop tyres continue working as well as they
have in Almeria and Albacete on the BSB tracks then we will
be highly competitive in 2007.”
Leon Haslam was also pleased with his test. “I am really
happy with how things have gone in Albacete as I was quickest
in every session until I crashed. The crash didn’t really
affect me as I was not hurt but it cost us some valuable time
as I had planned to do some race runs but was not able to.
On the whole it was a good test and my aim for Snetterton
now is just to acclimatise myself and fine tune the bike for
the cooler conditions that we are expecting.”
The Airwaves Ducati team are now looking ahead to their last
test at Snetterton on 24-25th March before the season commences
at Brands Hatch on April 9th.
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