Ducati MotoGP Testing at Sepang - Day 1

The Ducati Marlboro Team started an important three-day test at Sepang, Malaysia today with Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss continuing development and set-up work on the Ducati Desmosedici in view of this year's MotoGP championship. This is Ducati's first ever appearance at the Malaysian circuit, and Troy Bayliss, unlike Loris Capirossi, is also getting to grips with the Sepang track for the first time.

On arrival, the Ducati Marlboro Team was greeted with average temperatures of 30° C (35° C track) in addition to stifling humidity and the test session was later interrupted by a violent tropical downpour in the afternoon.

The first day of testing however allowed the Ducati engineers to continue with set-up work on the bike and the riders to gain more experience with the Desmosedici prototype. Using the positive tests at Phillip Island as a basis, the riders undertook several test sessions, and by the end of the day Capirossi had completed 38 laps and Bayliss 39.

The results obtained with very few modifications were positive, with both Capirossi and Bayliss setting encouraging lap times. The Italian's quickest lap was 2m05.3", while Troy got down to 2m06.5". After the first session, it was decided to modify the gear ratios and this change allowed Capirossi to set his best time of the day. Bayliss was forced to interrupt testing due to a violent storm that lashed the circuit and the Australian, who was pleased with his debut in Malaysia, will only benefit from this modification tomorrow.

"We are all really satisfied with the way things went" declared Capirossi. "Today was important because we didn't have any reference data on this track. We started from scratch and, if this is the starting-point, then we can only be pleased. We still have to get the bike fully set up, but we are already at the same level as the competition. We are improving all the time, the team is working well and the 38 laps completed today have already provided us with some important data. There are still two more hard days to come, after which we will have a better idea of where we stand."

"I'd never been to this circuit before" declared Bayliss at the end of the session, "so I bought myself a Playstation and F1 game and tried to learn the track as best as I could. I'm only joking though, because today was an important debut and I'm pleased with the way it went. I did 39 laps, looking for the best lines on this wide and long track, and tried to set a good time. Seeing as we didn't have any data to go on, we used the Phillip Island set-up as a starting-point and so my best time of 2m06.5" is an excellent result. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to test with the different gear ratios because of the rain, but I'm sure tomorrow will be another difficult and productive day."

NB: Pole position last year was set by Alex Barros with a 2m04.487 while the fastest race lap was 2m04.925 recorded by Max Biaggi.