DUCATI XEROX:

As forecast, the first of today’s Superbike sessions was conditioned by the rain and, although many of the riders took to the track, Ducati Xerox men Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio took the decision, together with their technicians, to sit the session out. Both riders already know their Ducati 1198 machines well, and understand how they behave on a wet track, for which the morning’s conditions were not deemed to be useful.

By the early afternoon the asphalt had tried out somewhat but only in parts, the mixed conditions meaning that very few of the riders were able to improve on times set in the wet this morning. Noriyuki and Michel were nevertheless able to continue with the planned work, with Noriyuki concentrating on testing tyres and Michel testing the clutch. Times only began to drop in the final minutes once the track had begun to dry and, at the end of today’s action, Noriyuki had registered the sixth fastest time and Michel the fourteenth, having only made one fast lap.

Noriyuki Haga
“The weather impeded us today. In the morning we didn’t ride as it was too wet and then in the afternoon, even though it had stopped raining, some sections of the track remained wet meaning we couldn’t make any fast laps. With regard to what we tested, to be honest we were just working with different tyres today; there’s still work to do so we hope it stays dry tomorrow.”

Michel Fabrizio
“Physically I feel a lot better than I did yesterday but we decided to not go out this morning as it was just raining too hard. In the afternoon the track was still wet of course but at least it had stopped raining allowing us to get back to work. Today we spent time testing a new clutch, and we saw some positive results in the end; just that, in concentrating on that, we then didn’t have enough time left at the end to get some fast laps in.”