Stoner and Hayden continue their progress for Ducati

Early preparations for the 2010 season continued to go well for the Ducati Marlboro team, with Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden both testing further set-up variations at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit on Tuesday.

Stoner was again working with new forks and a revised engine configuration on his Desmosedici prototype, and clocked the second-fastest lap of the day with a best time of 1’32.195.

“We weren’t able to make much use of the day yesterday because of the high winds but today the conditions were much better,” said Stoner of Tuesday’s session. “The new engine setting – which I prefer so far – changes the performance of the bike in different ways, for example in corner exit, so we have to modify the set-up in order to get the most out of it. I also have to get used to it and adapt my riding style accordingly.”

Stoner continued, “This probably means I can’t get on the gas as hard and fast out of the corners but can keep it open for further in the corners. We also tried out the new Bridgestone which seem to work well. In general I’m very pleased with how things are going.”

The rear Bridgestone tyre which Stoner referred to was also tested by team-mate Hayden, as well as a number of other MotoGP riders, and the American completed 84 laps as he continued with a variety of set-up options.

“Today we worked mainly on confirming our impressions from yesterday, running some more tests on the new forks and a bunch of other things on the bike set-up and with the new tyres,” said Hayden, who registered the fifth-fastest lap of the day.

“We have improved a few tenths here and there. The gap to the really fast group is still there but it has been a positive day, we have done a lot of laps and gathered a lot of data. We’ll do some more tests tomorrow on the engine settings and other set-up alterations. We also need to push hard to get the lap times down and close that gap to the lead group,” he concluded.