The Ducati Team successfully wrapped up its programme for 2014 with two days of testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Andalusia (Spain), where next year’s factory team duo of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone were out on track together with a number of other MotoGP and SBK riders. Also present was test-rider Michele Pirro, who continued development work with the Desmosedici ‘lab’ bike and who will remain for one extra day tomorrow.
Today’s action was conditioned by the rain that fell overnight, and with the addition of a winter cold snap and constant showers this made it impossible to put in a good amount of laps. On Wednesday however, in much more favourable conditions, the two Andreas were on the pace straight away with their Desmosedici GP14.2 machines.
Both riders set good times after working mainly on electronics and set-up. With a time of 1’38.9, Dovizioso ended Wednesday at the top of the timesheets, ahead of his new team-mate Iannone, who was second in 1’39.0; their times remained unbeaten today.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’38.9
“We had to do set-up testing to get some exact information for next year’s bike. We did a good job yesterday, lapping all day and everything went well. I set a really good lap time, our record at Jerez. Even though I don’t put a lot of importance on these times because many of our rivals were not here, it still gives you a lot of pleasure. Above all we were quick all day on used, hard and soft tyres, so this is even more confirmation that the bike has improved since mid-season and that we went better than what we did at Jerez in the race. Today I didn’t do any more laps because of the weather conditions, but there wasn’t much else to test.”
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’39.0
“Yesterday was quite a positive day because we were able to try out various set-ups for the bike, eliminate some doubts and confirm what we had already tested at Valencia. In the end I lapped quicker than what I did in the GP race. Even with the hard tyre I managed to do a good time and maintain a good pace, so I am quite happy about how this last test of the year went. We have accumulated a lot of good information for the new bike over the last two days. I’m also happy with the team, I like my new group of guys a lot and I’m pleased with the way we work in the box.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) – 1’40.5
“All things considered yesterday was quite good because we tried a lot of stuff with the electronics and with the chassis components. My best lap was 1’40.5, which wasn’t that quick, but we weren’t aiming for a fast time. Today we continued working on the electronics in the wet conditions, while tomorrow we’ll do some tyre testing.”
This test wraps up the Ducati Team’s programme of activities for 2014. The Italian squad will next be back in action with Dovizioso and Iannone at the first IRTA test of the new season, scheduled for Sepang in Malaysia, from 4 to 6 February 2015.
