Ducati teams Valencia test day three summary

Laconi (Ducati Fila) Wraps up Valencia WSBK Testing at The Top

Valencia (Spain), 13 February 2004: Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila) wrapped up the official World Superbike championship testing session today with an impressive time of 1'35.39, the Frenchman confirming that he will be one of the title favourites when the season gets underway at Valencia in a fortnight. His team-mate James Toseland was also on the pace throughout the test, but the British rider was relegated to third quickest by Australian Steve Martin on a Ducati DFX 999RS.

In 156 laps and three days of testing against a full WSBK field, 28-year-old Laconi showed that he has already found an excellent feeling with the 2004-spec Ducati 999, improving his best time by well over one second and today's 23-lap race simulation was also positive, as Regis constantly lapped around the 1'36s mark.

"The tests went really well and I'm very happy with the 999 and the times I achieved with it on Pirelli tyres" declared Regis. "I was fastest in both qualifying and race set-up and my lap times during the long-run were consistent right until the end. We will see what happens at the first round but I really can't wait for the season to start."

James Toseland did the most laps (190) in the three-day session, taking his personal best down to 1'36.162, a time he set this morning on race rubber. The 23-year-old British rider was unable to get the best out of the softer 'qualifying' tyre, but was pleased with his performance and the set-up of his 999.

"It's been a long test, I did almost 200 laps!" commented Toseland, "but I wanted to do as many as possible to get on form in time for the season. The morning was good, I did a few low 36s but then I couldn't get the same grip with the temperature increase in the afternoon so I was a bit disappointed with that. The 999 feels good, I did well in these tests and I'm pleased with my overall fitness so now I just have to prepare myself mentally for the season which starts soon."

OVERALL TIMES: 1. Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1'35.39; 2. Martin (DFX Ducati) 1.35.57; 3. Toseland (Ducati Fila) 1.36.16; 4. Haslam (Renegade Ducati) 1'36.20; 5. Borciani (DFX Ducati) 1'36.30 ; 6. Corser (Petronas) 1'36.31; 7. Haga (Renegade Ducati) 1'36.91; 8. Vermeulen (Honda) 1'36.90; 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 CONTINUE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DUCATI 749R

Lorenzo Lanzi and Vittoriano Guareschi concluded three days of intense testing with the Ducati 749R that will mark Ducati's return to the World Supersport Championship arena this season for the first time in three years.

Both riders put in an enormous amount of work on the brand-new bike, which appeared for the first time in its definitive 2004 trim during this Valencia test session.

The Italian duo set times that were outside the top 10, but the 749R was consistently one of the quickest bikes on the long Valencia straight, confirming that engine performance is strong.

Testing today revolved mainly around set-up work to improve the bike's 'rideability', and although Lanzi's best time was set at the end of the day, his personal best remained yesterday's 1'39.31, while Guareschi's best was the time of 1'40.47 he recorded on day 2.

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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