Ducati team Valencia test report 2004-02-11

Laconi (Ducati Fila) Leads The Way in Official WSBK Testing at Valencia.

Valencia (Spain), 11 February 2004: Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila) set the pace on the first day of the official pre-season World Superbike testing session at Valencia today. The 28-year-old Frenchman demonstrated his championship potential with a time of 1'36.53 around the Ricardo Tormo track on the 2004-spec version of the Ducati 999. His British team-mate James Toseland was three-tenths of a second off Laconi's pace with a time of 1'36.86 as the Ducati Fila riders sandwiched an impressive Leon Haslem on a Renegade Ducati 999RS.

Both Ducati Fila riders continued development work on the 999 Factory '04s that will make their debut at the Valencia opening round in two weeks time. Regis Laconi (40 laps) set his quickest time in the morning and then crashed out on oil late in the afternoon but was unhurt. "Apart from the crash, the day wasn't so bad" declared Laconi. "I set my best time early but in general the first day's times were slower than last time we were here because it was cold in the morning and then we didn't do that many laps in the afternoon. Tomorrow things will heat up for sure."

James Toseland (49 laps) bedded in new forks in the morning as he got to grips with his 999 but then improved to 1'36.86 in the afternoon. "We started off with different fork settings from the ones we used in Phillip Island and I had to get used to that at first, and then we tried a few other things during the day" he commented. "We're just checking that everything is going well with the new bike, but I feel confident because I know we're going in the right direction".

TIMES: 1. Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1'36.53; 2. Haslem (Ducati Renegade) 1'36.74; 3. Toseland (Ducati Fila) 1'36.86; 4. Fuertes (Suzuki) 1'37.27; 5. Vermeulen (Honda) 1'37.37 ; 6. Haga (Ducati Renegade) 1'37.64 ; 7. Martin (DFX Ducati) 1'37.68; 8. Corser (Petronas) 1'37.83; etc.

TEAM DUCATI FILA

Title Sponsor: FILA; Official Sponsors: SHELL ADVANCE - BREIL; Technical Sponsors: AMD - BREMBO - CHAMPION - CM COMPOSIT - GNUTTI - MAGNETI MARELLI - REGINA - SKF - TERMIGNONI - USAG - VAZ; Official Suppliers: ALFA ROMEO - ALLEGRI - BIANCHI - DEA - DHL - DITEC - GERICOM - GIANFRANCO FERRE ' - HOKKAIDO - MALAGUTI - MARSH - OAKLEY - ORRIGONI - PATTEX - POWERADE - SPARCO - SUOMY

LANZI AND GUARESCHI HARD AT WORK FOR DUCATI BREIL SUPERSPORT TEAM

Lorenzo Lanzi made further progress today on the Ducati 749R that he will race in this year's World Supersport Championship, notching up considerable development mileage on the brand-new Factory bike.

22-year-old Lanzi set fourteenth quickest time in 1'39.83, almost a second ahead of Ducati Corse tester Vittoriano Guareschi (1'40.70), who is also present at Valencia to help speed up the 749R's development curve.

Lanzi and Guareschi focussed on suspension and general set-up work in collaboration with Ohlins technicians and although they were not amongst the front-runners, both riders were able to give major feedback to Ducati Corse engineers that will be useful over the next two days of testing.

TEAM DUCATI BREIL

Title Sponsor: BREIL; Official Sponsors: SHELL ADVANCE; Technical Sponsors: AMD - BREMBO - CHAMPION - CM COMPOSIT - GNUTTI - MAGNETI MARELLI - REGINA - SKF - TERMIGNONI - USAG - VAZ; Official Suppliers: ALFA ROMEO - ALLEGRI - BIANCHI - DEA - DHL - DITEC - FILA - GERICOM - GIANFRANCO FERRE ' - HOKKAIDO - MALAGUTI - MARSH - OAKLEY - ORRIGONI - PATTEX - POWERADE - SPARCO - SUOMY

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