Ducati Team riders still at odds with bikes

Ducati Team riders still at odds with bikes - Printable Version

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Ducati Team riders still at odds with bikes - Malcolm - 19-06-2013

Ducati Team duo Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso could still not get to grips with neither the GP13 nor GP13 ‘Lab’ bike as they conducted a back-to-back comparison during Barcelona’s post-race test session on Monday.

Hayden ended the day in second place, but was quick to point our that he is still achieving quicker lap times with the original GP13 chassis.

"We were here with the Lab bike, which is a real bike now, but unfortunately for me I just cannot find any progress with it and I’m consistently faster with the standard bike," said the 2006 champion. "It’s frustrating in one sense because we want to make a step and come closer to the front guys, but I can’t find it with that bike. I hope that’s at least some good information for the engineers."

Dovizioso echoed his teammate’s sentiments, having also spoken out over the issue during post-race interviews on Sunday afternoon.

"We struggled during the weekend because the layout of the track is really different to Jerez and Mugello," the Italian explained. "The positives and negatives are really, really small. We now have to have a meeting to decide which bike we will use at Assen, but the difference is very small and unfortunately not what we need to reduce the gap. We will take the decision, but it is not something really important."

Nicky Hayden, Ducati Team, Test Catalunya

On a brighter note, Hayden was pleased with the new Hard rear tyre provided for the test by MotoGP tyre supplier Bridgestone. This particular compound is closer to the current Medium specification and designed to aid riders towards the end of races.

"We tested the new Bridgestone Hard tyre and there was some good potential," Hayden continued. "This weekend, and pretty much all this year, we really haven’t been able to use the hard tyre - which makes it tough to do the weekend with only soft tyres.

"For me this weekend, the harder tyre was a disaster, but today I had a good feeling with the new Hard tyre, was able to do a 42.4 and a lot of laps, so hopefully that will give them some direction to help us to be able to use the hard tyres as the summer gets hotter. We are going to need it."

During the single-day test, Hayden was one of only two riders to rack up 73 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya. Dovizioso circulated 56 times, bringing the team’s total for the day up to 129 laps (equating to just under 610 kilometres/380 miles).

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