DUCATI MARLBORO:

Today the full complement of MotoGP riders roared back into action for the first time in 2010 at Sepang, after a first day exclusively available to test riders, who performed ‘shakedown’ sessions on their machines yesterday. It was a positive start for the two Ducati Marlboro Team riders, who were 2nd and 7th fastest respectively.

Stoner, who expressed his satisfaction with the new engine, was quickly on the pace and then focused on the set-up of his bike trying to solve a problem of chatter. Hayden, who was also testing a new fairing today, set a good pace but struggled with the same problem as his team-mate. The pair are now looking forward to working more on the base settings of the GP10 and are confident of improving it tomorrow.

Weather-wise it was a demanding day for all of the riders, with ambient temperatures reaching 40°C and the thermometer hitting 60°C on the track. Around fifteen minutes before the scheduled end of the test, a light rain shower brought it to an early conclusion. The track will be open again tomorrow from 9am to 5pm for the second and final day of the test.

Casey Stoner 2nd fastest 2’01.902 (42 laps)
“This first day was a bit difficult to understand: we started off with a setting that was quite good and that allowed us to make reasonably good lap times. We thought we would improve as the day went on but we had a few problems with chatter. We tried a lot of different combinations trying to make the bike feel a little bit better but we couldn’t really get an improvement. To be honest it was difficult to work out why because the track conditions were particularly difficult – it was so hot that it was actually hard to understand if you were make an improvement on the bike or not. In any case I’m really happy with the new engine, I think that with the other one we would have struggled more. Now the bike in general feel very good, very balanced and I’m happy with it. Hopefully the weather will be a little cooler tomorrow so that we can understand better if the changes we try are the right ones”.

Nicky Hayden – 7th fastest 2’02.792 (59 laps)
“Overall the day was positive, sure it went quite fast actually and at the end of the day when we were ready to do some more laps the rain came and cut it a little bit short. It would be nice to have the chance to do some more laps. But overall the bike was feeling quite good. We made a couple of little tweaks that helped us but we struggle a lot for edge chatter. There’s not much testing before the start of the season so we’ve got to move fast: day one is in the bag, we have established a good starting point and we go from here”.

PRAMAC DUCATI:

Pramac Racing riders, Mika Kallio and Aleix Espargarò, have returned at work on the Sepang circuit in Malaysia after the long winter break. The day was very hot and this has made an even tougher first day on track for 2010. Aleix Espargarò has slipped while it was going through a slow turn: nothing worrying for the Spanish rider who went back on track without complications just a few moments later. The Pramac Racing Team and its riders will be back on the track tomorrow for other important laps in preparation for the new agonistic season.

Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing rider

“It is always nice to come back on the track but like this it was really difficult: I passed from -20 degrees of Finland to the almost 40 degrees here in Malaysia. Today was really hard and now I need a long night of rest to feel better tomorrow. The situation on the track is good; the bike has significantly improved from last season thanks to the best delivery of the new engine prepared by Ducati. We are confident that in this direction we can have a good season.”

Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing rider

“Help, here is incredibly hot. We have succeeded in achieving an acceptable chronometric result anyway as we have worked well today. First impressions on this year bike is very good: when coming out of the turns the bike is less aggressive, it seems that there is not enough power, but instead the bike is as fast as last year which is really good. It is an excellent step forward. Now it’s our turn to find the best way to ride the bike and improve our lap times.”