The first day of the long
awaited post-season MotoGP test at Valencia started with
grey skies and light drizzle yesterday morning, which
left the track unsuitable for the opening hour of the
session between 9 and 10 when, luckily, the sun emerged
to gradually dry the track surface.
At 10:55am Valentino Rossi arrived in the garage where
Filippo Preziosi, Jeremy Burgess and his crew as well as
engineers and technicians from Ducati's Reparto Corse
were waiting for him. At precisely 11:46am the official
Ducati test rider Franco Battaini took to the track for
a first shakedown on the black 'carbon' coloured GP11
and finally, at 12:23, a new era in top-level motorcycle
racing got underway as the nine-time World Champion rode
the Ducati Desmosedici for the first time. Due to his
on-going contract with Yamaha that runs until the end of
the year Rossi's Ducati was finished yesterday in plain
carbon but featured his famous yellow number "46" as
well as "Doctor" decals.
Rossi started out on a Desmosedici GP11 fitted with a
'big bang' version of the engine, which he used for
virtually the entire day as he worked on geometry and other settings. As the day drew to a close he made one
final run on the 'screamer' version.
Current Ducati MotoGP rider and Rossi's team mate for
2011,
Nicky Hayden, also made several outings on both versions, also
starting on the 2011 'big bang' machine before switching to the
'screamer'. The American completed 54 laps with a best
time of 1’33.882.
“It has been an exciting day for sure," said Filippo
Preziosi, General Director of Ducati Corse last night.
"The main thing that hit me today was Vale's positive
feedback and his capacity for analysis. Today he tested
the GP11 with the 'big bang' engine on a standard
setting, which he modified step by step to adapt it to
his riding style. His first comment when he lifted his
visor up was a positive one about the power delivery and
then he gave some impressive technical details. We
certainly have a lot to do to adapt the bike to his
riding style but it is really nice and very interesting
to work in this way. We worked on the geometry and
setting today to see how the bike responded and to get a
bit of experience working with both Vale and Jeremy
(Burgess). At the end of the session he went out on the
screamer version but we will make more of an analysis
between the two engines tomorrow because they deliver
the power in very different ways - the big bang has a
more regular power curve whereas the screamer is more
aggressive but also more powerful. Nicky tried both
versions today and this evening we will have a look at
all the data.”
“The 2011 season is
already on us and we have some big decisions to make,"
commented Hayden. "We had a lot of things to try today,
especially in terms of the engine. The rain didn't help
anybody because we lost some time this morning with the
rain and when we were eventually able to get out on the
track the conditions weren't ideal. Anyway, we were able
to get some laps in and I can say that the 2011 version
of the big bang engine is definitely an improvement. We
switched to the screamer at about three o'clock and in
some areas it's also really strong, I like it. Before
making a choice to move forward with we need to test
some more, get all the data together and make a calm,
considered decision.”
