Short testing stint productive for Stoner

Casey Stoner was the fifth fastest rider at the post-race Barcelona test on Monday, working in small doses on development of the Ducati Desmosedici GP9 after an exhausting Sunday race. The Australian posted a fastest lap of 1’42.763, slightly quicker than his best race lap, as he performed a reduced testing schedule.

“I had a bit of work on my arms and legs when I got out of bed this morning, because I was cramping up,” said Stoner, who had been suffering from illness all weekend before the tough podium fight. “We seem to be able to do a couple of laps on the bike at least, so we could get a few things done.”

The Ducati Marlboro rider left the extensive work to teammate Nicky Hayden, but still used the test constructively to confirm settings and further examine the usage of a carbon swingarm.

“We’ve been trying the carbon swingarm again with a few more settings, and we found a few positive things. We haven’t done a lot of laps today, but the bike was feeling good. We still need to improve the rear traction. We worked a little on the new engine management system to try to find out how to make it work a little better. Everything seems to be working well, but today was just to make sure that everything was ok. I cut the test short because I was still sore and too tired after a couple of laps,” continued the 2007 World Champion, who went on to explain the differences between the carbon fibre version and its aluminium equivalent.

“The carbon fibre swingarm is more stable, but sometimes it is too stiff. I’ve been using the aluminium one recently because I find that it can conserve the tyres towards the end of the race –it has got a lot more grip, but you just lose some of the stability. We can do roughly the same lap times on both of them.”