Ducati Xerox Team riders
James Toseland and Régis Laconi wrapped up their second two-day testing
session in a week at the legendary Brno circuit in the Czech Republic.
The four days of testing gave both riders a final opportunity to
prepare for the forthcoming round of the World Superbike championship at
Misano Adriatico (24-26 June), as well as the subsequent Brno event in
mid-July.
Conditions were much improved from last week's cold and windy outing,
and despite the occasional shower, the team was able to get down to some
serious mid-season work at one of its two optioned testing circuits. As well
as tyre testing for Pirelli, the sole supplier for the SBK championship, the
Ducati Xerox Team riders also carried out development work on several new
components for the 999, including a lower steering clamp and MotoGP-derived
brake callipers. Both riders set their best times (Toseland 2m03.2s, Laconi
2m03.4s) on race tyres yesterday.
Toseland, who had never even seen Brno before, summed up his first
experience on the Czech track: "It's really good, a bit like Mugello with
long, fast, flowing corners. I'm quite pleased with the way the test went
and the bike is working good. I missed a bit of time when I went off
yesterday and today the conditions were not as good, but I feel sure that I
could have knocked quite a bit off my best time without that crash".
Laconi, who lapped a couple of tenths off his team-mate's pace,
declared: "I found it a bit difficult to get into the rhythm of this track
mainly due to the conditions, but I'm sure that in July, when it'll be much
hotter, things will be a lot easier. We've already got quite a good set-up
for the race, but you've got to remember that conditions will be different
when we come back here".
The Brno circuit, which extends over 5.4 kilometres, has not been a
fixture of the World Superbike calendar since 1996. It has twice been the
venue for a round of the championship; in 1993, when the two wins went to
Carl Fogarty (Ducati) and Scott Russell (Kawasaki), while three years later
it was the turn of 2005 points leader Troy Corser to notch up a double win
on a Promotor Ducati 916, run by current Ducati Xerox team manager, Davide
Tardozzi.
