Testing at Cartegna concludes for Be Wiser Ducati and Lloyds British Moto Rapido

It was a tale of two teams at Cartegna in Spain as the two Ducati outfits had differing experiences at the end of the four day test. The Lloyds British Moto Rapido team had arrived a day earlier than the Be Wiser team and made significant progress in accomplishing what the team had set out to do. Over the four days the team tested new components including new subframe and tank as well as various settings finally completing plenty of laps with the last day concentrating on race simulation and race pace. Buchan set the second fastest lap on unofficial times on the penultimate day, but claimed this was never his aim.

Speaking to Britishsuperbike.com Buchan said: 

"I think the final day was quite windy so trying to do an outright lap time was out of the window, although that wasn't really in the plan for the team but I would like to have gone out and done a one lap hit but it has been more about the areas we needed to test. We still had a lot of work to do on the final day with a new front fork spec which was really good and worked well with the new tank and swingarm that we had already tested. We tried to do some longer runs on used tyres to try and make it easier for us when it comes to the races.


"It has been a good test at Cartagena; in the last session we did a longer run of 30 minutes to replicate a race run and my times were really consistent. This track is hard to keep the tyre longevity so if you can keep the tyres working here then a lot of the tracks in the UK should be a bit easier. I am really pleased with how the Lloyds British Moto Rapido Ducati has been and we have learnt so much and over the years you come testing, try to be fast and then you get to round one and it is a different story. This year I feel I have matured and the team have done a really good job and together we have covered a lot of areas; it is all the little changes that are adding up. We now have a day of rest before getting on track at Guadix and I think the Ducati will be good there."

For the Be Wiser Ducati team it was a different story. The team arrived at Cartagena full of confidence after a previous test in Portimao but found set up more challenging at the Spanish circuit.

Shakey said: 

"I think that it would be really, really easy to sit here and be a little bit down about the way the test went in general but I think in maybe two or three weeks’ time, or when the season starts, we won't look back at this test and think 'oh my God, what on earth happened there? We will look back and think 'flipping hell, how lucky were we that it happened there' as this test has taught us a lot about the bike.


"Cartagena is a really low grip circuit where you spend all your time on the side of the tyre and after the fantastic test that we had in Portugal, I came here absolutely brimming with confidence. In my own mind I was convinced that the Ducati was going to be phenomenal around here and the fact that Mossey had some days before we got here, then all the guys had an extra day on us, I thought it would be absolutely perfect. I thought we would be able to get out after already having a test, and get straight up to speed and be pretty much in the ball park from the word go.


"But I think after the first couple of exits we got the biggest kind of shock I think I have ever got out of a race bike you know. It has felt the whole time we have been here like it has six thousand horse power and like a wet tyre in the rear; it has been particularly difficult to ride, to manage, to control to a certain degree and that was a massive surprise. That said, it made us look at where we were in Portugal, look at the way the bike worked in Portugal, bearing in mind how fast we were in Portugal, and revisit some stuff and go in a much better direction than perhaps we would have done if we had not come here.


"I honestly think that give it a round or two, we will be so, so grateful that we came here and go this sort of surprise. It is hard to say that I am happy to be not as fast as guys that we can beat week in, week out, I am not going to lie. I would loved to have been fastest, but at the same time we have seen that in years previous it doesn't matter how fast you are around Cartagena for one lap, unless you can do however many laps it is at Silverstone in the race and maintain a fast pace, you are not going to be anywhere. In Portugal we had about a drop off of about half a second a lap from the minute we used a tyre until the minute that the tyre was over race distance and numbers like that, and the information that we learnt at this test, means much more to me than a lap time at Cartagena circuit."

For his team mate Glen Irwin the aims were different for the Irishman. New to the team and the Ducati, Irwin was looking to getting accustomed to the Ducati superbike and finding a base setting to work with.

Irwin said: 

"I think at other tracks the bike was still all new to me and straight out of the blocks it felt pretty good and had so much potential. You could nearly get carried away from the off because it couldn't be that easy to get right straight away. On the first day it wasn't too bad but it felt like a bit of a handful and then on Saturday we didn't take many steps forward, but at the same time that was a good thing as if we weren't moving forward when we were trying things that didn't work and we have been able to eliminate them.


"On the final day we didn't improve our pace but I matched it and I feel that if we went out again then I would be able to go quicker. The final day we made a big change that bought us back to what felt good and the last session of the day I was more consistent than I had done all week and I also did some laps behind Shakey and Kiyo and I could see where they were riding it more like a Superbike compared to me still. If I think now compared to how I was at the beginning of the test my lines are a whole lot better than they were but they are still not good enough. It is good to see where I was losing the time, but in those areas I was losing a lot but I have had a big crash here before in that area of the track, so perhaps a track with good memories might have been a different story. I do feel though on that, I have come away from here on a high after my last run as I didn't feel as far off everyone else.


"We still need to make some more changes at the next test, we just want to consolidate the feeling we have found at the end of the test here and improve that. I currently have the best base I have had all test and if the weather conditions had been good we could have been faster at the end, but fair play to the boys who were doing those times."


The teams now move on to the Gaudix circuit for further testing.