[theophil]

Bon gibernau n'etait peut etre pas au mieux !!


MOTOGP News Wednesday, 15th February 2006

Gibernau sidelined by abdominal pains.

After suffering gearbox problems on Tuesday's opening day of the Sepang III test, Ducati Marlboro's Sete Gibernau saw his test programme further interrupted on Wednesday when he was sidelined by illness.

The Spanish rider, who had a sleepless night due to severe abdominal pains, had to return to the hotel after just a few laps today. Then, when he bravely returned to the circuit in the afternoon, he was unable to resume testing activity because of rain.

"I didn't sleep a wink all night but I wanted to test at all costs so I came to the circuit early," sighed Sete, who rode for 17 laps today. "After a few laps I was feeling really sick and decided to go back and rest in the hotel. At 3 o'clock, I still didn't feel well but returned to the track to try and go out again but it started to rain. It just wasn't my day... Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better again because we've got a lot of things to test."

Despite the illness, Gibernau's best lap time today was a 2mins 2.87secs - exactly one-second slower than team-mate Loris Capirossi, who was a happy man after clocking up 50 Wednesday laps.

"Today was a really positive day," declared a smiling Loris, who lapped 0.77secs faster than yesterday. "In the morning we worked on the chassis settings, engine management and engine braking and we found an excellent set-up. We also concentrated on testing several new rear tyres. These are a real step forward over the 'standard' tyres (with which Capirossi won the Malaysian GP) and I am pleased with the work carried out by Bridgestone.

"Tomorrow, thunderstorms permitting, we have scheduled a long-run to verify the duration of the tyres, which already looked good anyway in today's testing."

Sepang MotoGP testing concludes on Thursday.