A three-day test for Ducati at the Phillip Island circuit got underway today. The excellent work carried out by the Ducati Marlboro Team in the recent tests at Sepang allowed Loris Capirossi to rapidly find a good set-up on his Desmosedici GP7 and he ended the day just a few tenths of a second off the circuit record.
The first day of testing on his home circuit for Casey Stoner was also positive. As well as starting the schedule for the three days, the young Australian has also completely resolved the problems with his forearms that had conditioned his testing in Malaysia and was able to put in a total of 60 laps before the session was cut short by rain.
The early ideal conditions (sunny, 24°C) gradually gave way to strong winds and then rain at around 4pm in the afternoon. The forecasts however are positive for tomorrow and especially for Thursday’s final day.
Loris Capirossi (46 laps, best time 1m30.78s)
“I am satisfied, today we worked well and completed the entire schedule for today. The settings we found at Sepang allowed us to start from a good base which proved to be valid also for this track and the bike went well right from the early laps, even though we still have margin for improvement. As we are already at a good point with the set-up, tomorrow we’ll start working on the tyres seeing as today we only used 2006-spec rubber. I am feeling really confident and pleased with the way the bike’s development is going”.
Casey Stoner (60 laps, best time 1m31.44s)
“It’s great to be at home and feel good on the bike: the problems with my arms that I had at Sepang have completely cleared up and today I was able to concentrate on the bike. We are mainly working on the rear set-up to improve stability coming out of corners and we have a few things to try tomorrow when we start using the new tyres. Today I did 60 laps and I would have continued had it not started to rain. Let’s hope that the weather is good tomorrow because I’m anxious to continue working with the Desmosedici”.
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