A full house of MotoGP riders present in the final winter testing
session at the Sepang circuit. Positive day for Loris Capirossi, who
continues development work on the Desmosedici GP6, while a minor
mechanical problem slows down the work of Sete Gibernau.
Sepang (Malaysia), Tuesday 14 February 2006 -The Ducati Marlboro Team
returned to Sepang today for a second three-day test session for all the
MotoGP teams at the Malaysian circuit before the start of the World
Championship.
The day was characterized by suffocating heat in the morning (track
temperatures above 50°C) and then disturbed by the rain, which shortly
after 4 pm in the afternoon forced everyone back to the pit garages. The
light showers were enough to keep the track damp but made any more dry
testing time impossible before the closure of the track at 6 pm.
Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau took advantage of the dry weather to
continue the development of the new Desmosedici GP6. Both riders have an
intense testing programme ahead of them, which also includes the new
tyres that Bridgestone have developed with the data accumulated at this
circuit at the end of January.
Loris Capirossi (44 laps - 2m02.64s);
"I am pretty satisfied with the way things went today" declared Loris.
"We continued development work on the bike, concentrating mainly on the
set-up to try and obtain the best compromise between agility and
stability. We managed to find something good and tomorrow we'll focus on
the tyres. The team is working well, and the bike seems to be much
improved over last year's machine".
Sete Gibernau (38 laps - 2m03.51s);
"Today we had a mechanical problem which ruined almost all the time
available" said Sete, whose bike suffered a gearbox glitch. "Just
before it began to rain I went out on the second bike which was much
better, but then the rain brought the test to a halt. We are here to
test, and it's better that the problems emerge here rather than in the
race!"
Tomorrow and Thursday, weather permitting, testing for Capirossi and
Gibernau will revolve around the chassis, the electronics and the tyres.
