Ducati not thinking about Gibernau racing return

Aside from the preparations for the bwin.com British Grand Prix, an added angle of intrigue for MotoGP fans this week has been the return to riding of Sete Gibernau. The Spaniard participated in a three-day test for Ducati in Mugello with both the Desmosedici GP8 and GP9, and the factory´s Project Manager Livio Suppo is thinking over the possibility of further appearances for the former World Championship runner-up.

`It was good to see Sete back riding and on form. He managed to do fifty laps when the weather was good on the final day, and a 1´51.7 was a good time for a rider away from competition for nearly two years,´ noted Suppo, who gave his former charge the testing opportunity after conversing with him in Catalunya.

`We will now think about whether to do something else or not; we´ll have to speak with Sete about this and see.´

Speculation has abounded as to what the next step will be for the Ducati-Gibernau combination, but the immediate intentions extend to nothing more than further testing.

`At the moment there are no plans to do a race with Sete. We´re thinking about doing another test with him, but right now we aren´t thinking about anything more than that.´

The Italian boss also ruled out any possible run for the GP9 prototype this year, noting that there was still life in the GP8 used by regular Ducati Marlboro riders Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri.