Barberá feeling more and more assured on Ducati

Warm sunshine welcomed the MotoGP riders onto the track at Mugello today for a free practice session that saw little movement on the timesheets throughout the hour. Valentino Rossi dominated proceedings but after three close races so far it seems the notorious demands of this circuit has spread the rest of the field somewhat, with a massive 5.5 seconds covering first to 17th place.

Páginas Amarillas Aspar rider Héctor Barberá experienced first hand the awesome power of a Ducati down the long straight here, with the top five speeds all set by riders on the Italian machinery. Barberá was the quickest of them all, registering a stunning 339.6 km/h through the speed trap. The Spaniard crashed in the final corner after just three laps but was able to return to the track for the final half an hour and having spent that time recovering his confidence he is confident of major improvements tomorrow.

Héctor Barberá, 10th, 1’51.582

"I had a good feeling and a lot of confidence at the start but got too excited and pushed too hard under braking in the last turn. I ran it wide but I was going quite fast so decided to lay it down so that I didn't hit the wall. Luckily I was okay and able to go back out for the last half hour. I felt really comfortable with the Ducati again and just tried to slowly chip away at my lap times without making too many changes to the bike. I always enjoy riding Mugello and I don't want to pass up the opportunity of a good race on Sunday. I was able to improve little by little and set my fastest time virtually at the end. The Ducati is working well and I'm enjoying myself more on it every day."