February 3 - Sepang Test

Ducati MotoGP Team satisfied with Sepang first testFeb 5

The second and final day of MotoGP testing at Sepang was affected by mixed weather conditions, with rain in the morning making way for sun in the afternoon. However, several riders chose to take to the track from 9am, including Nicky Hayden who was the fastest on the wet track.

Others, like Casey Stoner, preferred to wait until around 1pm, by which time the track had completely dried until another heavy downpour on the strike of 5pm that saw the session extended until 6pm.

Casey Stoner, second fastest overall, was satisfied with the set-up work done with the new bike over the two days in Malaysia and with his physical condition, following what was a very demanding session due to the intense heat and humidity. Hayden, eighth fastest, would have been happier if it hadn’t started to rain just as he was preparing to fit new slick tyres but he was pleased to have at least improved on his best time from yesterday and to have set a consistent pace.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati MotoGP Team) 8th fastest,  2’02.493 (64 laps)

“I am satisfied but I could be happier. These past two days have flown by and the weather hasn’t helped us to make the most of the track time available. Anyway, this morning we got the chance to find a wet setting for the new forks and engine. When we went out in the dry I could feel an instant improvement on yesterday and I set a decent pace but then we didn't improve further. I would have liked to post a better lap time but just when we put some new tyres in the rain came back. However, it was a very positive test and I can’t wait to get back to work at the next one in a couple of weeks’ time.”

Casey Stoner  (Ducati MotoGP Team) 2nd fastest,  2’01.320  (44 laps)

“We are quite happy with the test. Today didn’t start really well because of the rain and the wet track, which set us back a few hours, but when it finally did dry out we were able to make some progress. We have definitely improved the set-up of the bike, trying some different things with the swingarm. The lap times are still not where we want them to be and we have to work on taking another couple of tenths off on hard tyres, but to be consistently doing 2’01.9 or 2’02.0 laps is a decent pace. Considering that we are using a different engine to the one we’ve had for the last three years and some other new parts that we still need to get the best out of we certainly can’t be unhappy with where we’re at. There is work to do but we have two more test sessions before the season starts for real. In general I am really pleased with how it’s gone.”

Sepang Circuit Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati - 2007) 2’02.108

Best Pole Position: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha - 2009), 2’00.518

Unofficial lap times

1. Rossi (Yamaha) 2.00.925 (20 of 32)
2. Stoner (Ducati) 2.01.320 (34 of 44)
3. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2.01.680 (27of 60)
4. Pedrosa (Honda) 2.01.822 (46 of 50)
5. Spies (Yamaha) 2.02.266 (17 of 31)
6. Dovizioso (Honda) 2.02.272 (46 of 56)
7. Edwards (Yamaha) 2.02.479 (38 of 42)
8. Hayden (Ducati) 2.02.493 (30 of 64)
9. Espargarò (Ducati) 2.02.647 (30 of 33)
10. Capirossi (Suzuki) 2.02.763 (25 of 48)
11. Melandri (Honda) 2.02.810 (49 of 55)
12. Barberà (Ducati) 2.03.032 (48 of 51)
13. De Puniet (Honda) 2.03.043 (30 of 48)
14. Aoyama (Honda) 2.03.195 (39 of 56)
15. Simoncelli (Honda) 2.03.245 (49 of 49)
16. Bautista (Suzuki) 2.03.274 (32 of 37)
17. Kallio (Ducati) 2.03.359 (46 of 53)

First Day of 2010 test for Ducati MotoGp team positiveFeb 4

Today the full complement of MotoGP riders roared back into action for the first time in 2010 at Sepang, after a first day exclusively available to test riders, who performed ‘shakedown’ sessions on their machines yesterday. It was a positive start for the two Ducati MotoGP Team riders, who were 2nd and 7th fastest respectively.

Stoner, who expressed his satisfaction with the new engine, was quickly on the pace and then focused on the set-up of his bike trying to solve a problem of chatter. Hayden, who was also testing a new fairing today, set a good pace but struggled with the same problem as his team-mate. The pair are now looking forward to working more on the base settings of the GP10 and are confident of improving it tomorrow.

Weather-wise it was a demanding day for all of the riders, with ambient temperatures reaching 40°C and the thermometer hitting 60°C on the track. Around fifteen minutes before the scheduled end of the test, a light rain shower brought it to an early conclusion. The track will be open again tomorrow from 9am to 5pm for the second and final day of the test.

Nicky Hayden -  7th fastest 2’02.792 (59 laps)

"Overall the day was positive, sure it went quite fast actually and at the end of the day when we were ready to do some more laps the rain came and cut it a little bit short. It would be nice to have the chance to do some more laps. But overall the bike was feeling quite good. We made a couple of little tweaks that helped us but we struggle a lot for edge chatter. There’s not much testing before the start of the season so we’ve got to move fast: day one is in the bag, we have established a good starting point and we go from here”.

Casey Stoner  2nd fastest 2’01.902  (42 laps)

“This first day was a bit difficult to understand: we started off with a setting that was quite good and that allowed us to make reasonably good lap times. We thought we would improve as the day went on but we had a few problems with chatter. We tried a lot of different combinations trying to make the bike feel a little bit better but we couldn’t really get an improvement. To be honest it was difficult to work out why because the track conditions were particularly difficult - it was so hot that it was actually hard to understand if you were make an improvement on the bike or not. In any case I’m really happy with the new engine, I think that with the other one we would have struggled more. Now the bike in general feel very good, very balanced and I’m happy with it. Hopefully the weather will be a little cooler tomorrow so that we can understand better if the changes we try are the right ones”.

Sepang Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati - 2007) 2’02.108

Sepang Best Pole: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha - 2009), 2’00.518
Unofficial lap times 4th February

1.    Rossi  (Yamaha) 2:01.411 (54 laps)
2.    Stoner (Ducati) 2:01.902 (42)
3.    Edwards (Yamaha) 2:01.932 (48)
4.    Capirossi (Suzuki) 2:02.102 (58)
5.    Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2:02.165 (57)
6.    Dovizioso (Honda) 2:02.630 (51)
7.    Hayden (Ducati) 2:02.792 (59)
8.    Pedrosa (Honda) 2:02.866 (52)
9.    Kallio (Ducati) 2:02.987 (70)
10.    Barbera (Ducati) 2:03.030 (59)
11.    Espargaro (Ducati) 2:03.133 (54)
12.    Spies (Yamaha) 2:03.142 (55)
13.    De Puniet (Honda) 2:03.456 (62)
14.    Bautista (Suzuki) 2:03.558 (51)
15.    Simoncelli (Honda) 2:03.563 (54)
16.    Melandri (Honda) 2:03.609 (28)
17.    Aoyama (Honda) 2:03.651 (66)