Improved weather conditions at Valencia allowed the remaining WSBK teams to get in five hours of testing with Carlos Checa on the Althea Ducati who came out on top of the unofficial time charts. Checa put in 50 laps with a best time of 1.33”8 despite a track temperature of only 12°.

Xerox Ducati riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio did 1.34”0 and 1.34”3 respectively, while Shane Byrne put in the same time as Haga on standard tires.

Jakub Smrz finally got some lap time and was just four tenths of second from Fabrizio, despite the fact that his Ducati doesn’t have ride-by-wire electronics as the Xerox Ducati and Althea Ducati’s have.

Davide Tardozzi hasn’t worked his black magic yet, because BMW had the highest test times on this last day of testing. Ruben Xaus and Troy Corser up in the 1’35s, with Xaus, who is unhappy with the Nissin brakes he’s been using and wants to go back to Brembo, doing the same lap time as test rider Alex Hofmann on the Aprilia who did a total of 75 laps.

Carlos Checa:

“I made a very good step forward. I can’t believe that I’ve learned to ride the twin so fast. I’m happy for the team, that’s just started and we already have a result that will cause some sensation. I used fairly soft race tires, but with this cold it was completely ruined after a few laps, but when we come back for the race (April 11th) the weather conditions will be more favourable.”

Noriyuki Haga:

“Unfortunately yesterday was a total loss due to the wet, cold conditions but today we were able to ride all afternoon. We continued with the work started at Portimao, testing suspension settings and various tyre compounds. I also tried a new clutch which seemed to perform well, and my lap times were fairly fast seeing as it was extremely cold. I’d say we’re very happy, although we’ve seen that the privateer Ducatis of Checa and Byrne were also very fast so I guess the first race of the season will be very interesting; I can’t wait to race!”

Michel Fabrizio:

“We haven’t been very lucky with the weather, with rain both here and in Portimao. But it’s all gone really well today, bearing in mind that it was for us the first, and last, day. We found a good pace and are pretty satisfied with the lap times. It was a bit difficult to evaluate the tyres well in these conditions but, all in all, it went a lot better for us than it did at Portimao and I feel like we’re back on track.”

Unofficial Test Times:

1. Checa 1’33”8
2. Haga 1’34”0
3. Byrne 1’34”0
4. Fabrizio 1’34”3
5. Smrz 1’34”7
6. Corser 1’35”2
7. Xaus 1’35”5
8. Hofmann 1′35″5

(no votes)

0 comments