Ducati Team in IRTA tests at Sepang.
Three days of pre-season IRTA testing came to an end today at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, and the Ducati Team now returns home satisfied with the results and after a positive conclusion to the scheduled work programme. Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone focussed mainly on fine-tuning work on the chassis and the electronics set-ups of their Desmosedici GP14.3, and both riders said they were pleased with the results obtained.
The quickest Ducati Team rider, and also the fastest Italian on the track, was Andrea Iannone, who was particularly incisive and at ease today, the third and final day of the tests. In the morning the rider from Vasto lapped in 1’59.388, a time that pushed him up into third place in the standings behind the factory Honda pairing of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa. With the heat and stuffy weather in the afternoon, there were very few significant variations in the timesheets and the positions remained unchanged until the end of the session.
In the morning Andrea Dovizioso had been unable to get the best out of the soft tyre, and he did not complete a perfect lap on his only run, but the rider from Forlì was in any case pleased that he had reached the target he had set for himself at the end of yesterday, which was to lap under the two-minute mark. Andrea set a best time of 1’59.874 and concluded his work schedule at lunchtime, finishing these first tests of 2015 in seventh place overall.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’59”388 (3rd)
“I am very happy because I return home after a really positive test. We constantly improved from the first day until this evening. This afternoon we also worked with the second bike and we tried some different settings to try and understand if the modifications were going in the right direction. We also did several tests with the electronics, seeing as we had an evolution version of the software for the GP14.3. There has been a lot of work over the last three days, and I’m also happy with my new team: the guys have done a great job. Now I’m really anxious to try the new GP15 at Sepang 2 but in any case I’m happy with the way we have improved in the last few months.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’59”874 (7th)
“I am very satisfied with these three days’ testing because our aim was to improve the chassis and the electronics even more, as well as doing some comparative tests that will be useful for the new bike. We were quick throughout the three days, and this is always very important, and I also managed to get under the two-minute mark, which was one of my aims on this beautiful track. The only negative aspect is that this morning I didn’t manage to do a perfect lap with the only soft tyre I had available, but the rest of the work we did was very good: yesterday we even did a 15-lap long run, setting some interesting and constant times. I go back to Italy very satisfied and very curious to see and test the new GP15.”
Luigi Dall’Igna (Ducati Corse General Manager)
“From my point of view these first tests of 2015 have gone well, and I am pleased both regarding the lap times we set but above all for the development work we managed to do in these three days. We have certainly made some steps forward regarding the software and also the chassis. We tested some things that we never had time to test throughout last season and as a result we also obtained some very useful information for the development of the GP15, which will take to the track in the next tests at Sepang.”
