Fresh off of a long race weekend at the Circuito de Jerez, Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden remained in Spain today for an official IRTA test, where they joined the other MotoGP racers for another warm day of riding on a hot track. The test provided an opportunity for Dovizioso and Hayden to try the pair of development bikes that Ducati Test Team rider Michele Pirro had just campaigned in the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Ducati Team racers confirmed Pirro’s findings with the bike via a back-to-back comparison to their own Desmosedici GP13 race machines, and the important data gathered will be brought back to the factory to further define the engineers’ development program for the coming months.
The Ducati Team now heads to Italy’s Mugello Circuit, where Dovizioso and Hayden are scheduled to take part in a private test on Wednesday and Thursday.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) 7th, 1:39.524 (47 laps)
“It was interesting to try the bike with the new frame, which we should have soon to use in the races, although I still don’t know exactly when. We were able to do a comparison with my current bike, and the lap time wasn’t bad at all, while corner entry is better, especially in fast turns. This is the first true change this year, and although it’s not as big as I’d hoped, we’re going in the right direction.”
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 8th, 1:39.643 (35 laps)
“Today went pretty well. We knew that with my condition, we wouldn’t be able to test a lot, but it was important to compare the lab bike that Pirro raced yesterday with my own. The positive thing is that we confirmed that the development is going in the right direction. Corner entry is easier, and that leads to a small improvement with turning as well. Hopefully they’ve got some more good information today that will help them to continue improving the bike.”
Bernhard Gobmeier – Ducati Corse General Manager
“It was very good that Andrea and Nicky were able to try the Desmosedici that Pirro had ridden yesterday in the race. Compared to our race bikes, it has a different frame and some changes to improve power delivery, along with updates to the electronics. This is just the first step in our development program, but it confirmed that the work we’ve done so far has been in the right direction. Both riders did good lap times, and corner entry and corner speed are better. Now we go to Mugello, where Michele Pirro and Franco Battaini will try other updates, while Andrea and Nicky will focus on work on the setup of their GP13 race bikes to prepare for the race in June.”
