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Ductalk: What's Up In The World Of Ducati
Ducati News Roundup Curated by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
While Yamaha plays coy and tires to hide their seamless transmission to be tested this week, and Honda move confidently forward knowing that they currently have the package to beat, Ducati seem to be the only ones giving an honest assessment of their current situation: stuck right where they were in November of 2012. The GP13 is actually a GP12.1, in the sense that it's new, but only in construction.
Read more: http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/201302049300/Ducati-moving-slow-if-not-backwards.html#ixzz2K2NCZMM6
We don't see this as a putdown on Ducati's test yesterday but more an accurate report from a team that isn't officially speaking of what needs to be done for the "new team" to evaluate the "old team's" tests and theory's to establish a baseline. Moving backwards in order to go forward.
Add to that the health of at least one of the riders is still TBD and cleary not quite there yet. In our opinion the clock starts when Ducati officially delivers the true GP13
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Ben Spies is looking forward to his first ride on a Ducati MotoGP bike this week at the Sepang Circuit in
Malaysia after spending the past few months sitting on a couch with his arm in a sling.
Three days after crashing out of last October’s Malaysian GP, the 28-year-old Texan underwent a 90-minute
procedure to reconstruct his injured right shoulder. Cadaver tissue was used to replace and reinforce the torn ligaments.
“I didn’t do anything for a solid eight weeks,” said Spies. “I mean, like, nothing. After that, I spent another two-to-four weeks slowly starting to straighten my arm. Just moving the elbow was pretty painful.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
The Malaysian rain wasn't as sweet to Rossi as the French variety, which helped Valentino Rossi to get his Ducati on the podium. At Sepang he had to settle for a 5th place finish, after a small mistake that cost him precious time: "I ran long in turn 7 - the Italian explained - where many other riders went down. At least I was lucky enough to stay upright. Without that mistake I could have finished one place higher, but fighting with Stoner for the podium would have been very hard."
Read more: http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/201210218629/Rossi-Lorenzo-He-is-settling.html#ixzz2A26YpnFd
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
The glamour of the MotoGP Paddock Girls, at the sixteenth race of 2012 in Sepang...
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi finshed fourth and fifth in today's wet Malaysian Grand Prix.
For the rest click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
'I think the decision to stop was correct because in these conditions, the bikes can aquaplane and you can go down in any corner' - Valentino Rossi
For the rest of the story click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Ducati's Valentino Rossi left frustrated as rain puts dampener on FP2 in Sepang, hampered by lack of rear end grip in morning session...
For the rest click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
The Rossi-tested unit is working better for the American, it seems...
For the rest of this story click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Troy Bayliss will be back on the track at Sepang Monday, after the Grand Prix, riding a Ducati. The return, however, will not be linked to his (old) testing role.
The Australian champion, in fact, was summoned along with Loris Capirossi to take a driving course for the lucky fans of the Ducati local school, so presumably drive a 1199 Panigale.
For the nostalgic, however, a wonderful opportunity.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden preview the upcoming Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
For the official link click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Japanese MotoGP at the Twin Ring Motegi, Nicky Hayden is hoping a new Ducati swingarm he will try for the first time in Sepang this weekend will boost his hopes of a strong finish to a disappointing 2012.
The American will get the new swingarm factory Ducati teammate Valentino Rossi has been using since Misano for this weekend’s Malaysia clash, which gives Hayden an immediate chance to bounce back from a tough weekend in Japan.
For the rest click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Vittoriano Guareschi didn't try to hide his dissatisfaction with Valentino Rossi being just 10th fastest at the end of Sepang testing, but he also knows that the Italian rider worked extremely hard over the last three days: "He completed an enormous workload - the Ducati team manager revealed - testing a large number of different setups and solutions. It's normal that a rider wouldn't achieve maximum performance in this situation, when their priority isn't outright speed, unless they have a bit of luck."
Read more: http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/201203016234/Guareschi-Rossi-could-go-faster.html#ixzz1nzPligXY
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Valentino Rossi hasn't hit the panic button yet, but it's clear that he's concerned with the development of his Ducati GP12 after the second preseason test session at Sepang.
Rossi ended the last of three days of testing 10th in the running order, 1.077 seconds behind leader Casey Stoner's Honda. The reduction of the gap between Rossi and the top was encouraging. But Rossi was discouraged by the presence of five satellite bikes - including Hector Barbera's Pramac Ducati - ahead of him on the time sheets and the return of front-end troubles to his bike.
"We tried a bunch of things in order to take a step forward from the first test, but unfortunately, we weren't able to do it and were actually worse," Rossi said. "It was harder for me to ride well compared to three weeks ago, especially my corner speed. It's true that this test was more difficult in terms of weather and track conditions, but it seemed to affect us more than the others. Honestly, I expected to do better than tenth...more
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Ducati Team concludes Sepang test with sunny weather and busy schedule
Despite a negative weather forecast, the final day of the Sepang test was the only one of the three not affected by rain. Valentino Rossi stayed on the track until the last minute in order to complete as much work as possible for the Ducati engineers, who continue working on the development of the GP12. As for Nicky Hayden, despite still not being in perfect physical condition, he continued testing into the afternoon, and on his very last exit, he had a harmless low-speed fall in Turn 1.
Both riders found the new electronics that were introduced at this test to be a breakthrough, although they didn’t find the ideal setup for improving their lap times and ended the day in tenth and eleventh positions. Still, they both reduced their gap to the front considerably compared to the first test.
The next winter test is scheduled for March 23-25 at the Spanish Jerez circuit.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 10th, 2:01.550 (57 laps)
“One small positive note to the day is that we reduced the gap to the front a little bit. It was 1.2 seconds, and now it’s 1 second. It’s also nice that the new electronics work well, but it hurts being down on the timesheets compared to all the others. We tried a bunch of things in order to take a step forward from the first test, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it and were actually worse. It was harder for me to ride well compared to three weeks ago, especially my corner speed. It’s true that this test was more difficult in terms of weather and track conditions, but it seemed to affect us more than the others. Honestly, I expected to do better than tenth. We were also unfortunate because at the best part of the day, when I did a 2:01.5 and we had some tyres to try to lower the time further, we had a problem with the fork that cost us some time. Maybe without that we would have cut another three or four tenths and been further up, but our pace is still about seven tenths back. Honestly, that’s not a huge amount, but anyway we’re still behind. We’re not pleased with how it went this time, but we have to try and work hard and see what happens at Jerez, where the track is very different than this one, with much different weather and temperatures. We’ll see how we do there.”
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 11th, 2:01.609 (44 laps)
“Of course I would prefer to have been closer to the front, but it’s my first real test of the year. The bike feels better on braking and into the corner, and I like the feedback it gives me. Also, the lap times don’t seem as affected when the track gets hot and greasy. We need to work on some chatter and on corner exits. We have plenty of ideas, as there are a lot of things we didn’t get to try this week because of the weather. Toward the end, I lost the front end in Turn 1 and crashed, but it was an easy one and I’m fine. I’m happy with how my shoulder is coming along. I hope that with three more weeks of recovering and rehab, it should be close to 100 per cent for Jerez.”
Filippo Preziosi (General Manager, Ducati Corse)
“It was sunny for the last day of the Sepang test, and after almost completely losing the first two days due to rain, we had to concentrate a lot of work into a relatively short time. Clearly, situations like that make it more difficult to achieve maximum performance because the setup changes continuously. Today Valentino is tenth and Nicky is eleventh, and obviously we would prefer to be further up. Anyway, they both liked the new electronics package that we had for this test. We’ll keep working hard between now and the next test at Jerez, where we’ll try to put everything we have together and optimize it.”
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Ducati Team makes progress at Sepang despite bad weather
For the second day in a row, poor weather conditions affected the MotoGP test at Sepang International Circuit, where day two was interrupted by precipitation shortly after midday. The track surface didn’t dry, and the teams were forced to suspend their work and wait for tomorrow’s final day.
Nonetheless, Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden carried out a number of tests with the electronics, with both riders reporting positive first impressions. Tomorrow’s weather forecast calls for conditions similar to those of today.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 5th, 2:01.748 (18 laps)
“The weather hasn’t been kind to us. With my condition, maybe I wasn’t going to be able to do many more laps anyway, but we have a lot of stuff to try. It was definitely cooler today, with more rubber on the track, and we went faster. We made a couple of small steps and I would say today was the most competitive I’ve been all year. I like the changes to the electronics, especially at the first touch of the throttle. We talked about going out in the rain, but the risks seemed to outweigh the rewards. I look forward to tomorrow. Hopefully we can put together all the pieces we’ve learned and do some good lap times.”
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 7th, 2:02.130 (18 laps)
“Another day practically lost, which is really a shame because for us it’s very important to ride as much as possible, and today's track conditions were much better than yesterday's. Given that we knew rain was predicted for the afternoon, we tried to focus as much work as possible in just the first twenty or so laps this morning. Using both bikes, we tried the new traction control, some software updates with the wheelie control and other small details that have to do with the seating position. I had good impressions with all of those, so we put it all into the setup of just one bike and put on a new tyre, only for it to start raining. Game over. On the plus side, I had a good feeling with all of the new stuff, so I hope we can work a little longer tomorrow.”
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Czech rider Karel Abraham will take no further part in the Sepang MotoGP test due to back injuries he sustained following a crash at Jerez last week.
Abraham managed only three laps in Malaysia before pulling out and has opted return to his home country to continue his recuperation.
The Cardion AB Racing rider's Ducati GP12 machine was taken over by Ducati test rider Franco Battaini, who clocked the 13th fastest time, 3.8s behind Repsol Honda pace-setter and reigning champion Casey Stoner.
A disappointed Abraham said: “It's a shame because we lost a lot of time that we could spend by working on the bike. But it doesn't make any sense to continue with such a pain and the chance that the injury would heal during the next two days is quite small....more
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Ducati arrived in Malaysia with both Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden still not at 100% fitness following their respective post Sepang 1 surgeries, but that didn’t keep Hayden from being the fastest Ducati rider on track and pipping his own team mate by a little more than one tenth of second and finishing in 6th spot on the first day.
Despite an early start by both riders, a dirty track and then the rain storm interrupted their testing schedule without Rossi having tested the upgraded electronics package that the test team tried out during the private test a Jerez last week, leaving the Italian in the 8th spot with the usual almost 1.5 second gap from the top of charts.
Rossi also debuted his graphics on the new and more aerodynamic AGV helmet that also includes a tribute to the late Marco Simoncelli.
Nicky Hayden - 2:03.132 (32 laps)
“I’m obviously still not at 100 percent, but considering I had shoulder surgery three weeks ago, it went better than I expected. I felt much better than at the last test and was able to give some good feedback, so I owe a big thanks to Dr Ting and his staff. This is the first time I could really ride this bike well, and I enjoyed it....more
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
(translated from Italian)
There is no sign of concern in the voice of Vittoriano Guareschi, while analyzing the first day of testing the Ducati on the track at Sepang . The eighth time, Valentino Rossi, 1 "484 the gap to Stoner, is due to a series of unfortunate coincidences and not a regression of the GP12. " We are serene , the level of the bike is always that of the previous tests, because today we were not able to try almost anything new , "notes the team manager.
What has happened?
" This morning Valentine came to the track early, but the conditions were very bad and there was no grip and ran 3 seconds slower than references in previous tests. The situation has gradually improved, but we decided to hold the second rubber for the afternoon, so Smith has done his best time with a tire which had already completed 22 laps . "
It was not possible to use the harder tire?
" I know that has tried unsuccessfully Dovizioso and Franco Battaini has also mounted in the morning to do the shake down the bike to Nicky, but did not provide sufficient grip is useless . "
Then the rain ruined the plans.
" Yes, it rained very strong and then we took the opportunity to find out how's the GP12 in the wet. Valentino came out with the rain and said that the feelings are very similar to those on GP11 , a bike that was going on very well ' water. We started to try some adjustment, but then the track dried and the track was half wet and half wet pointless to do other experiments , it would only be dangerous . "
The good news is that tomorrow you will have 4 tires available.
Read more: http://www.gpone.com/index.php/201202286205/Guareschi-domani-ci-rifaremo.html#ixzz1nh8ULaD9
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Valentino Rossi believes the first day of Sepang testing was largely a waste for him due to the track and weather conditions, and a tactical error...
The former champion was only eighth quickest on his Ducati, as the field managed limited dry running before rain hit the Malaysian venue.
"It's a bad day because we didn't have enough time for our work," Rossi told the official MotoGP website.
"We were also a little bit unlucky because this morning I went out very, very early but the condition of the track was bad - dirty and slippery from the cars of last week. When the conditions became better, we already had more than 20 laps on the tyre. We decided to wait for the afternoon to use the other good tyre but unfortunately the afternoon had rain....more
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
MotoGP Results.MotoGP lap times as of 11am on Tuesday, during the first day of the second official Sepang test.
esting began at 10am and concludes at 6pm.
All twelve manufacturer riders are again present for the three-day test, plus the Forward Racing and BQR 'Claiming Rule Teams'.
Factory Ducati rider Nicky Hayden and Tech 3 Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso will be hoping their healing injuries will allow for greater track time than at the first test, while Karel Abraham (Cardion AB) could struggle with a back injury sustained at the recent private Jerez test...more
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Rossi will use this week’s second Sepang test in Malaysia to concentrate on new electronics aimed at improving stability under acceleration with the radical new Ducati GP12 machine.
Rossi and team-mate Nicky Hayden struggled with corner exit handling during the first Sepang test earlier this month but both will have new electronics tested by development rider Franco Battaini in Jerez last week at their disposal....more