Essais Sepang [22-23-24/01/07]

[Stoner27]

Ducati duo spot problems, praise tyres.



The opening day of 2007 testing, at Sepang in Malaysia, ended with Ducati Marlboro riders Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner sixth and tenth fastest as they identified areas of improvement.

Capirossi lapped 1.261secs behind fastest man John Hopkins of Rizla Suzuki, with new team-mate Stoner a further 0.4secs behind. As the endless quest for further performance continues, both riders spotted areas of current weakness but were delighted at the performance of their Bridgestone tyres.

"It was not bad for the first day of testing after a break of over six weeks," summed up triple 2006 race winner Capirossi. "We've still got a few problems in the general set-up of the bike but it's normal at this stage of the year. We are here for this reason and for sure we've got a lot of margin for improvement. Today we tested a few things that worked and we put aside some other solutions as we have organised the work for the next couple of days. We have opted to test a few more things tomorrow and I think we can improve a lot. I'm also very confident about the performance of the tyres because even though we haven't yet begun to test with the new ones, the ones we have used today already perform really well."

"I am very pleased with the way things have gone today," declared Stoner after testing his new Italian machine for the third time. "We have made a lot of progress since the Jerez test even though we still have to improve some of the characteristics of the engine. I am really pleased with the tyres: the front is already perfect, the rear is good and for sure we can improve. However my best time was set with a rear that had already done an entire race distance and that's a good sign!"