Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo were back on track for test duty on Tuesday and Wednesday in Valencia, with preparations already underway for 2018. On the second day, Dovizioso even finished work early after getting through his full programme – outside the top ten on the timesheets but satisfied that wasn’t the most important thing.
“We took advantage of these two days to try out various details and solutions useful for the preparation of the 2018 bike,” says the Italian. “We were able to finish the work programme that had been decided on together with our engineers, and also to test the new 2018 Öhlins forks.”
Lorenzo, meanwhile, ended the second day in fourth – and made good progress with his riding style. “In these tests we didn’t really try out anything new, but we picked up some very useful information for the development of next year’s bike,” explains the Italian. “I felt really good, improving my performance on the bike by changing some things in my riding style, and I set some good times. However we must continue to work to find the tenths that we are still missing at some tracks. We also tried the new Öhlins forks, but we know that the most important new things will only arrive at Sepang for the first test of 2018.”
So that’s almost a wrap on 2017, and ‘DesmoDovi’ says the next stop is Jerez: “Now we are waiting for the final test of the year at Jerez, where we’ll be working to define the last details of the new bike before the winter break.”