Tickets purchase
VideoPass purchase
The Italians will start work together at Ducati in the Official MotoGP Test today, and in an interview with motogp.com the technical mastermind behind the Desmosedici discussed the areas of focus for Rossi’s first day of collaboration on the new GP11.
Today marks the start of a new era in Ducati’s MotoGP history as Valentino Rossi begins an all-Italian partnership with the Bologna factory. Great anticipation surrounds his debut Test on the Desmosedici, with high expectations placed on his aiding of the development of Ducati’s 2011 prototype.
The primary focus for the Italian’s first Test with Ducati will be the selection of which engine to use, with the team having prepared big bang and screamer versions for him to ride at Valencia over the next two days. In 2010 Ducati reverted to the big bang option from the screamer and General Manager of Ducati Corse, Filippo Preziosi, explained to motogp.com that the main priority on the agenda would be the selection of which engine type to now progress with.
“We have to decide the kind of engine we will use next year. To do that it’s necessary to compare the two types,” said Preziosi. “Unfortunately that means we can’t just work on one bike to get the best set-up in order to achieve the best lap time. This is a problem for the rider because it matters to them when they are competing with the other riders, they always want to get the best time! We will ask Valentino to help us with that.”
Preziosi continued: “I am ready to get feedback from Valentino on which one he prefers. I will prefer which one is doing the best lap time.”
Other points of development across the two days as outlined by Preziosi will be a new faring and a new fork, and when asked about the front end issue that affected Casey Stoner at stages of the 2010 campaign he said: “I have to ask Valentino because at the end of the season we found a solution with Casey. But Casey is very demanding of the front of the bike so we have to work on that. We have a lot of work to do, and on day one we will find out in which direction we’ll go.”
Joining Rossi will be his vastly experienced chief mechanic Jeremy Burgess along with a number of the Italian’s crew, and Preziosi is also looking forward to their contributions greatly.
“They are very experienced,” he said. “Personally I have a good feeling with Jeremy so I think this will benefit our progress and the capability of the bike.”
You can follow live and exclusive coverage of the Test on Tuesday morning on motogp.com. For details click here.
New to motogp.com?Register here