Ducati’s problems were exacerbated ten fold at Indianapolis and Alessandro Cicognani, Ducati Corse MotoGP Project Manager blames it all on the tires, while Jeremy Burgess, Valentino Rossi’s legendary crewchief previews the GP Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini at the Misano World circuit, which is important race for the Italian team describing Rossi’s supposedly strong points on this particular track and one of the problems that they may encounter this upcoming weekend.

Rossi in his preview of the race looks like he’s already preparing his fans that Misano won’t be a breakthrough for him nor Ducati, while Nicky Hayden is worried about temperatures (Misano is expecting a high of 31°C on Sunday) because the higher the surface temperatures, the harder it is to ride the D16.

“We’ll be racing in front of our home fans at Misano, and obviously we’d like to do better than we have at recent races,” commented Valentino Rossi. “Indianapolis was very difficult, and we would have preferred to arrive here in better shape, but we’re aware that much of our work is aimed toward the future. For the moment, we must take into account the possibility that our results won’t be satisfying, first for us but also for our fans. We’re all working at our maximum, both at the track and in the company, and in the meantime, we’ll try to do as well as the current situation allows.”

“Indy was a bad race, but some how, some way, you’ve got to try to get over it and move on,” said Nicky Hayden. “Misano has been a tough track for me, because it seems like I can’t ever get through the first corner. It would be nice to catch a bit of a break, because I don’t feel like we’re always getting the results we deserve. We learned a lot about the new bike in Indy, so I hope we’ve got a good starting point there. We’ll see what the weather’s going to do. Hopefully it won’t be too hot, as that makes things more difficult for us. Anyway, we need to do our best and try to improve our bike.”

....

0 comments

Ducati is breathing a collective sigh of relief when they heard that Masao Furusawa had given permission to Valentino Rossi to test the Ducati in the post-season sessions at Valencia next month. Alessandro Cicognani, Ducati’s Project Manager speaking to the official MotoGP website has thanked Yamaha for releasing Rossi early.

“I haven’t heard what Rossi or Yamaha have said exactly, but I was told about this so I am really happy. I think in a way it’s like a present from Yamaha to Valentino after what he has done for them. We can be happy with this and I would like to thank, in a way, Yamaha. I have good relations with Lin Jarvis and I take this chance to thank him because he has always been fair and open to discussion. It’s not easy and it’s great. So we will work now and finish the season, and then start again for 2011 just after the Valencia race. “I think for everybody that this test is important because, due to the testing restrictions, I think it’s fair that every rider has the chance to test the bike he is going to ride the following year. So for everybody it would be important. He will test the 2011 bike for sure, and we will see. We are working on it!”

Hopefully Furusawa won’t take up Filippo Preziosi’s madcap offer from a couple of months ago, to paint the Ducati blue for the test.

....

0 comments