From the snows of Madonna di Campiglio to the oppressive heat of
Malaysia: the Ducati Desmosedici GP6 takes to the track for the first
time in 2006.
After a week of relaxation,
skiing and training on the snows of Madonna di Campiglio during the
Wroom 2006 - MotoGP press Ski Meeting, Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau
are now in Sepang, Malaysia for their first 2006 test session today with
the Desmosedici GP6.
The Malaysian circuit, where Loris set pole and won in 2005 and Checa
finished third, is well-suited for the Ducati/Bridgestone pairing, and
as a result is an important starting-point for the new season.
Despite a harmless fall for Loris half-an-hour into today's first
session, the Italian rider worked according to schedule, concentrating
mainly on the search for the best set-up for the new Desmosedici GP6
which proved to be quick straight out of the box.
Sete Gibernau continues to get to know his new team and his new bike and
is gradually finding the right feeling with the Desmosedici GP6.
Loris Capirossi (38 laps - 2m02.54s);
"Things are still not 100% right but I'm pretty pleased with the first
day of testing after the winter break. Today we worked a lot on the bike
set-up and on the new GP6 engine and I'm happy with the progress we
made. We still have to improve the bike's stability in the quick
sections and we are working mainly to get that right, but for a first
time out things are going well".
Sete Gibernau (56 laps - 2m02.86s);
"I thought there would be a lot of work to do and that proved to be the
case, and that's a big motivation for me. Today for the first time we
searched for adjustments that allowed me to get a better feeling with my
Ducati and the team is working well to understand exactly what I need to
make me have the best possible feeling with the new bike. We'll need a
bit more time but things have got off to a good start and I'm feeling
really confident".
Temperature: air 31°/track 53.8° C.
Unofficial times:
- 1. Valentino Rossi, 2m02.09s
- 2. Nicky Hayden, 2m02.19s
- 3. Marco Melandri, 2m02.28s
- 4. Loris Capirossi, 2m02.54s
- 5. Colin Edwards, 2m02.60s
- 6. Daniel Pedrosa, 2m02.74s
- 7. Sete Gibernau, 2m02.86s
