The final day of testing at Jerez de la Frontera didn’t get started until 1:00 p.m., due to unfavorable weather conditions that greeted the Ducati Marlboro Team on its arrival at the circuit. High humidity that bordered on rain made riding on the track impractical until lunchtime, when the sun came out and thoroughly dried the asphalt.
Nicky Hayden was therefore able to try the GP12, just as his teammate had done yesterday, and he quickly made up for lost time, lapping almost continuously until completing 61 laps.
“When I woke up this morning, the sky was really gray and the track was completely wet,” said Nicky Hayden. “I was pretty disappointed. I didn’t think we’d be able to do anything because it wouldn’t have made sense to waste a day testing in those conditions. The situation got better and better though, and after lunch, I was able to put on my leathers. I couldn’t wait to ride, and it was worth the wait. It’s an honor to be able to participate in the first track test of the GP12 because it doesn’t happen very often that you get to ride a bike on the track for the first time: it’s a special feeling. Everything went well, and we didn’t have a single problem: the motor is really nice to use, and I had a lot of fun riding the bike. I hope I gave some useful feedback to Filippo and the boys. I know they’ll be working on this bike while we go back to focusing on the next race, because this season just started.”
“First of all, I’d like to thank everyone at Ducati,” said Filippo Preziosi, “because thanks to their hard work and expertise, it was possible to carry out three days of trouble-free testing and complete nearly a thousand kilometers with the GP12 in its track debut. Having received consistent feedback about the bike from four different riders puts us in a position to efficiently continue the development process, because we can prioritize the work we have left to carry out.”
