Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau were able to make the most of the
warmest hours of the day and continue the development work on their
Desmosedici GP6s and Bridgestone tyres. The Borgo Panigale
manufacturer's factory riders exclusively used race tyres today, with a
view to preparing for the 2006 season opener.
The Ducati Marlboro Team men have been very fast since the first
sessions this morning, with Loris clocking his best lap time on race
tyres in 1'40.544, which beats Valentino Rossi's lap record set last
year (1'40.596). Capirossi and Gibernau then used the afternoon to carry
out a 27-lap race simulation which yielded important, positive
information for the Ducati Corse and Bridgestone engineers.
Loris Capirossi (68 laps - Best lap time: 1'40.544);
"I am really very happy. This morning we fine-tuned our settings even
more and I managed to lap really, really fast, to the point that I broke
the lap record! My bike and tyres were good, the weather conditions
were also perfect and we succeeded in completing a race simulation. I am
satisfied because I practically always lapped within the 41's at a
consistent pace throughout today's simulation. Tomorrow, we'll try and
improve some more but I can say we're in a good position for the first
race."
Sete Gibernau (82 laps - Best lap time: 1'40.954);
"For the first time today we had the right conditions for a long-run
test, and I can say now that we're right where I expected to be. The
work done by my Team and by Bridgestone so far has been very positive
and we made substantial progress compared to when we were last here in
November. However, there's still some margin for improvement and we must
stay concentrated and work as hard as we've always done so far. It felt
good to do a full 27-lap race simulation without any problems: it's a
good starting point to try and improve even more tomorrow."
