The Ducati Team today completed a busy three-day test at Misano. Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden rode on Wednesday and Thursday, whereas Michele Pirro—fresh from his recent substitute rider appearances with Pramac Racing—returned to his role as Ducati Test Team rider, beginning his work on Tuesday and continuing through to today.
Apart from a brief morning rain shower today, the test was marked by good weather, enabling the riders to focus their work, which consisted mainly of carrying out frame comparisons. They also tried some engine developments and looked for a base setup for the Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera, which will take place at this track in September.
Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team (105 laps)
“The Misano track is a bit inconsistent for our bike, but coming from Assen, we immediately felt a bit better at this circuit. We worked on the current bike, finding a setup for the Misano race, and then we went ahead with the development of the laboratory bike, trying some new stuff and finding some interesting things. We were able to do nearly two full days of good work, and today we tried a change with the frame. There were some positives, like an improvement with the feeling on corner entry. We must decide what to do; it’s a new part, so we have to understand whether or not we can have it in time for the Sachsenring.”
Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team (158 laps)
“It’s certainly been a useful couple of days. We didn’t make any drastic improvements, but I tried something with a different anti-wheelie solution that worked quite well, and I’m happy about that for the next two tracks, which are maybe the worst two circuits for wheelies on the whole calendar. We lost a bit of time today with the rain, but in the end I did a low 1:34. That’s not a bad lap time, although we’ll certainly have to do better than that when we come here for the race. We did a lot of laps, mainly with the wheelie control and a different fork setting, and we got some good information.”
