If you weren’t one of the 96,000 followers who happened to tune in to watch yesterday’s Ducati Desmosedici GP12 unveiling on the team’s Tim sponsor’s Facebook page, you can catch up on what happened with this video that shows the whole event and it has been dubbed in English, so you can understand the whole thing, including the lame jokes.

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Ducati is continuing the hype on the unveiling the the GP12 and has started a contest that will give five fans the opportunity to meet Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden and personally see the presentation of the new Desmosedici GP12 at Borgo Panigale on March 19th.

The contest is on Ducati’s official Twitter account @DucatiMotor with hashtag #DucatiSocial and to take part you have to submit artistic works, realized through text and/or pictures (both real photo or graphic works), that wish good luck to the Ducati Racing team in the upcoming season - for complete contest rules hit this link.

So if you’re interested you’ll have to hurry up as the Ducati Social Pass Contest starts now and will end at 6 p.m (CET) on Wednesday, March 14, and good luck to everyone.

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The Ducati GP12 didn’t make an appearance at the Wrooom event and the three-day private test at Jerez was kept on lockdown, but Czech based team Cardion AB has issued a press release regarding the satellite Ducati that Karel Abraham will be using this season that gives some details of the GP12, some of which Ducati may have wanted to keep under wraps until the Sepang test when the GP12 officially debuts.

The press release indicates the differences from last year’s GP11 and this year’s bike: last year’s 800cc bike produced 235hp and this year’s will be have a 999cc engine that will produce 250hp with a top speed of 360 km/h (speed is something that Ducati has never lacked) and stresses that the aluminium frame is Ducati (and not designed and built by FTR as everyone has been saying).

Filippo Preziosi has already mentioned that the satellite teams will be using a slightly modified version of GP0, the machine that Valentino Rossi tested at Valencia, while we know that factory riders Rossi and Nicky Hayden will be getting a completely revolutionized bike.

Press release after the jump:

Continue reading: Cardion AB MotoGP team reveals some details on the GP12

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When Valentino Rossi tested for the third time the new GP12 in the middle of June at the Mugello, he sounded pretty positive saying, “I was already happy with the engine the first time I tried it, and now we’re also making progress with the rest of the bike. Naturally, we’ll have to see when the others try their 2012 bikes, but as far as we’re concerned, for the moment we’re satisfied; our bike is already good,”

Too bad that a little more than three weeks later, the Italian who has been struggling all season long on the red beast, despite a myraid of developments, step 1, step 2, using the 2012 chassis version and in yesterday’s Mugello race changing the weight distribution that enabled him to take sixth, revealed to the Italy’s sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport that his 1000cc bike is slower than the 800’s.

“The truth is that in the tests with the 1000cc I went slower than today’s fastest riders on the 800’s, and this means that there is still a lot of work to be done.”

With Ducati only having three days still available for testing the 1000cc what more can Filippo Preziosi pull out of his hat to satisfy a disgruntled Rossi and make him faster?

Source | motoblog.it

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Wow! We certainly didn’t expect that Ducati would reveal photos and a video with sound of the GP12 and Valentino Rossi in action to the watchful eyes of competitors and fans when they tested today at Jerez, but they did and kudos to them and their publicity department for doing it. They certainly know how to grab the attention.

So how did the first test go after putting in the first 50 laps? Here’s what Valentino Rossi had to say, “I’m happy. I like the GP12. In my opinion, it’s more enjoyable, more fun to ride. It was the first time we had it on the track, so we had some work to do, but the engine is nicer. It’s a lot of fun, and you can do some nice slides. It’s the bike we’ll ride next year, so it was very important—and also very nice—to be among the first to take it on the track.”

Also on-hand was the daddy of all of Ducati’s GP bikes, technical director Filippo Preziosi, who couldn’t miss seeing his newest born in action.

“We chose to have our factory riders, today Vale, tomorrow Nicky to try the bike beginning with its first test, because we think their feedback is essential for starting us on the right path for the early development. To be able to work with Vale for a full day is more than any technician could ask. We gathered considerable feedback that we’ll translate into further design and development for next year’s bike. The positive thing is that the technical choices made for the GP12 in the initial planning phase, in 2010—and I’m referring primarily to the engine, which is still a big-bang, and to the rear end—were endorsed by Valentino. This gives us great satisfaction, and we’re optimistic about the work that still remains to be done. We know that our competitors are also working hard and developing their 2012 bikes, but that just makes the challenge better.”

Continue reading: Valentino Rossi on the Ducati GP12 - video and pics

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