World Superbike Testing - Valencia

A frantic final day of testing at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia saw the morning session delayed twice because of two separate oil spills. The afternoon session delivered the fastest lap of the test to Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila), the Frenchman taking a best overall time of 1:35. 393. His hard work over the whole three days saw him set a total of 156 laps as he installed himself in the position of first among equals, after what is the last test before the laps start to count for real.

Laconi was the first rider into the 1:35 bracket but he was not the last, as Steve Martin (DFX Ducati) improved on his previous best personal performance to secure a lap time of 1:35.574, finishing second overall. On a private Ducati compared to Laconi’s factory machine, Martin was impressive throughout, even if he did experience a couple of gremlins on the final day.

James Toseland (Ducati Fila) was third fastest overall in the tests, his lap total also being one of the best, a massive 190. He beat his own previous quickest mark from Thursday to take a time of 1:36.162 on the final day, 0.8 seconds shy of his team-mate Laconi.

Finishing his final day with a rush to the airport and home Leon Haslam (Renegade Ducati), joined his new SBK peer group in more than respectable style, improving despite his finger injury and setting a best time of 1:36.201; good enough for fourth quickest of all sessions.

Marco Borciani (DFX Ducati 999RS) put in a massive leap on the final day, stripping 1.2 seconds from his Thursday performance to record a lap of 1:36.303 and edge out 1996 World Champion Troy Corser (Foggy Petronas FP-1). Ending his weekend sixth fastest, Corser made steady improvements each day on the unique three-cylinder 900cc machine, which remains largely unchanged from last year’s spec.

Returning World Superbike hero Noriyuki Haga finished his first official test on the Renegade 999 Ducati in seventh overall, using only one of his two bikes. He set a better time on the second day than the last, with a personal best of 1:36.676 his eventual top reward.

The new Honda CBR1000RR FireBlade finished its first proper SBK test in ninth place, after Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda) gradually brought his times down to 1:36.907. His was nonetheless the fastest four-cylinder machine on display, displacing Spaniard Sergio Fuertes’ MIR GSX-R1000 Suzuki. Fuertes had to sit out the second day after a crash on day one damaged his machine too much to continue without replacement of some key parts.

Ivan Clementi and Mauro Sanchini (Kawasaki Bertocchi ZX-10) rode their relatively stock fours into tenth and eleventh, with Clementi overtaking his team-mate in the final standings on the very last day.

Chris Walker gained more knowledge of his Petronas triple to finish in the top 12, but one even more experienced rider found his new Ducati a tricky machine to set-up to his liking. Swapping back to his 998 Ducati for a period to make comparisons, Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati 999RS) eventually finished 13th overall, two seconds down on Laconi’s quickest time.

Riding a single bike at the test Garry McCoy (Xerox Ducati NCR 999) was disappointed with his 14th classification on the stopwatch, never feeling comfortable on a bike which is a big change from the multi-cylinder machines he has been used to.

SBK perennial fixture Lucio Pedercini was one of the few 998RS riders on show and ended his test 15th out of 24 entrants. Piergiorgio Bontempi was the fastest rider out of the two Zongshen Suzuki pilots, in 18th, two places ahead of SBK new boy Miguel Praia (Xerox Ducati 999RS).

In World Supersport Karl Muggeridge (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) showed the fact that his team had tested twice before at Valencia by setting his best time of all sessions, a 1:37.665, on the very first day. His machine also topped the speeds with a 267kmph best.

Running out fastest by a narrow margin over Sebastien Charpentier (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) Muggeridge set only 82 laps in total, in comparison to the 120 plus put in by most others. The Ten Kate riders Muggeridge and Broc Parkes finished their tasks a session early and packed up as most other teams continued to lap the 4.005km Spanish circuit.

Three Hondas were followed by three Yamahas, the fastest of them Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany YZFR6) in overall fourth classification. Christian Kellner (Yamaha Motor Germany) was fifth, 2002 World Champion Fabien Foret (Yamaha Belgarda) sixth. All three Yamaha men improved their best times on the final day.

Suzuki’s best rider proved to be Katsuaki Fujiwara, on the latest GSX-R600, in seventh quickest position on the timesheets. Lorenzo Lanzi’s Ducati Fila 749RS went 15th overall.

The tests mark the end of the pre-season preparations as the team return to Valencia for the first meeting of the 2004 season, 27-29 February.

Scuderia

Today ended the three day winter test session in Valencia. Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks riders focused once more in the final day to improve their feeling with the 999RS Ducati, not looking for a single fastest lap. Garry McCoy recorded in those condition the 14th fastest scoring 1'37"585, while a good improvement has been obtained by Miguel Praia, close to the 1'39" limit.

"We continued to work on the bike set up" - said McCoy at the end of the day - "Actually I don't have much experience on this bike, the twin four stroke, so I want to test a lot of new solutions. Also what maybe a more experienced rider could exclude. In this way we spent a lot of time in the pit, but things are going better day after day, if not too quick, so I'm not really disappointed. In particular I believe that we have to focus our work for the qualifying set up and soft tyres, but as I said yesterday the team is working very hard to get the bike as I want and we are working well together. For the first race we have still two practice days and we could see the results of the work we've done here."

Miguel Praia is quite satisfied for his improvement, also if at the end of the final session he crashed with any consequence, for a too quick throttle opening.

"What a pity for such a stupid mistake!" - confessed Miguel joining the pits - "I was so happy because my laptime was improving and I was trying to be faster, but I've lost the rear of the bike and I crash. However my feeling is always better, but I have to take care just about such mistakes."

A crash ended the test session of Gianfranco De Matteis too; he joined the track for the last session, but without improve his performance:

"I felt in the infield at the end of morning session " - said De Matteis - "and in the afternoon I had some pain, so I've been not able to be faster. But actually I'm quite satisfied for the result of the tests."

Ducati

Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila) wrapped up the official World Superbike championship testing session today with an impressive time of 1'35.39, the Frenchman confirming that he will be one of the title favourites when the season gets underway at Valencia in a fortnight. His team-mate James Toseland was also on the pace throughout the test, but the British rider was relegated to third quickest by Australian Steve Martin on a Ducati DFX 999RS.

In 156 laps and three days of testing against a full WSBK field, 28-year-old Laconi showed that he has already found an excellent feeling with the 2004-spec Ducati 999, improving his best time by well over one second and today's 23-lap race simulation was also positive, as Regis constantly lapped around the 1'36s mark.

"The tests went really well and I'm very happy with the 999 and the times I achieved with it on Pirelli tyres" declared Regis. "I was fastest in both qualifying and race set-up and my lap times during the long-run were consistent right until the end. We will see what happens at the first round but I really can't wait for the season to start."

James Toseland did the most laps (190) in the three-day session, taking his personal best down to 1'36.162, a time he set this morning on race rubber. The 23-year-old British rider was unable to get the best out of the softer 'qualifying' tyre, but was pleased with his performance and the set-up of his 999.

"It's been a long test, I did almost 200 laps!" commented Toseland, "but I wanted to do as many as possible to get on form in time for the season. The morning was good, I did a few low 36s but then I couldn't get the same grip with the temperature increase in the afternoon so I was a bit disappointed with that. The 999 feels good, I did well in these tests and I'm pleased with my overall fitness so now I just have to prepare myself mentally for the season which starts soon."

Lorenzo Lanzi and Vittoriano Guareschi concluded three days of intense testing with the Ducati 749R that will mark Ducati's return to the World Supersport Championship arena this season for the first time in three years.

Both riders put in an enormous amount of work on the brand-new bike, which appeared for the first time in its definitive 2004 trim during this Valencia test session.

The Italian duo set times that were outside the top 10, but the 749R was consistently one of the quickest bikes on the long Valencia straight, confirming that engine performance is strong.

Testing today revolved mainly around set-up work to improve the bike's 'rideability', and although Lanzi's best time was set at the end of the day, his personal best remained yesterday's 1'39.31, while Guareschi's best was the time of 1'40.47 he recorded on day 2.

Troy Corser

At the end of the official 3-day tests here at Valencia, Troy felt satisfied that he had done all the work that was possible. Although the conditions throughout the three days remained dry and mostly sunny, the changes in temperature affected the team's tyres more then expected.

Troy's Petronas FP1 bikes also suffered some technical problems and in the end he was only able to put in a total of 91 laps during the three days. With new (Pirelli) tyres this year, Troy felt he needed more time on the bike in order to give Pirelli feedback so that they can develop tyres for the Petronas FP1.

Factory Ducati rider Regis Laconi ended up quickest over the three days, with a lap of 1:35.393. Second is Steve Martin (Ducati) with a lap of 1:35.574, with James Toseland (Ducati) third on 1:36.162.

Troy Corser - "I'm reasonably happy with what we have done these three days, but I would've liked even more time on the bike. We've been working very hard with the Pirelli technicians and have given them lots of information about what we'd like for out tyres. Now we have to wait and see what kind of improvement we can make.

"I don't feel that the tyres the twins use are going to be suitable for us, at the moment, so we're hoping to be able to go quicker next time. Today we also had a couple of engine problems and that kept us off the track more then I would've liked.

"But, we've made some progress in the suspension department and that makes me very happy. After the first day, former racer (and now Ohlins technician) Anders Andersson came and talked me about our rear suspension. He took away my rear shock and rebuilt it and the next day I felt it was an improvement. Then he made a few more changes and it improved some more.

"We lost our chatter problems and grip was improved especially in the morning sessions. In the afternoon, we had a bit more problems, but that could've been down to the change of temperature. But, at least I thought we were going the right way and that's good. I hope that we can sort out a couple more things before raceday, but I feel positive."

Foggy Petronas

Both Foggy Petronas Racing riders Troy Corser and Chris Walker are expecting to capitalise on further progress made on the final day of the official World Superbike championship winter test when the season proper begins in two weeks, also at the Valencia circuit.

Troy finished the three days with the sixth fastest time, but without the luxury of setting his best lap of 1:36.310 on the qualifying tyres used by other riders. For much of the final day, when the rest of the World Superbike field were also using Pirelli race tyres, he occupied third position and was just 0.3 seconds off the pace set by factory Ducati rider, Regis Laconi.

Team-mate Chris also improved his best time to 1:37.287 to finish with the 12th best lap overall, despite a battle to cure a recurring chatter problem on the tyre constructions currently available. And both riders are optimistic that further improvements can be found before the first races on February 29.

Troy said: “In the morning we changed the rear shock a little bit more and that seemed to help, although our track time was reduced through oil spills from other riders. In the afternoon some chatter returned, which might have been due to the falling track temperature. But I know there is a fast lap time in the bike, as I didn’t get a chance to use the qualifiers that the other riders were using to set their best times. Overall, I am reasonably happy that we have found which Pirelli tyres work better than others. We still have a bit more work to do on the front forks to get a better feel. We have also got a good direction on the rear shock and can still make further improvements for the races.”

Chris said: “I lapped consistently faster all day today but wanted to dip into the 36s. But, all in all, we have ended up just outside the top ten despite a few technical problems. Throughout the test we have been working on removing the chatter, rather than concentrating on the ultimate set-up. And I am confident there is still more to come before the race through further development with Pirelli and through more set-up work. If we can start the race where we have left off here, then we shouldn’t be in too bad a shape. The qualifier I tried at the end of the afternoon was on the kind of construction we have been having chatter problems with, and the best race tyre construction we tried lacked a little grip as the track temperature had dropped. But it’s clear some of the other teams are having problems, even without chatter.”