Finally Someone Rides a MotoGP Ducati Faster than Stoner
Experts and armchair pundits alike have been perplexed by Casey Stoner’s apparent lone mastery of the Ducati GP9 MotoGP machine. Whilst Stoner is joint leader in the points standings following Sunday’s GP at Barcelona, his team-mate 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden languishes in 15th place. Ducati has visibly taken action with a new crew chief for Nicky and a test session with Troy Bayliss to show it is taking seriously the reality that today only Stoner can put the Ducati up at the front. Yesterday the riders completed an official one day test that finally showed a breakthrough for non-Stoner Ducati riders but not in the way you might expect.
MotoGP rookie, Mika Kallio joined Dovizioso, Rossi and Lorenzo in an elite group of the only 4 riders to lap faster than the fastest race lap on Sunday. With his 4th place, Mika even bested an admittedly under the weather Casey Stoner who posted the 5th fastest time. The Pramac satellite team received the carbon fiber swingarm and also the new electronics package with changes to the traction control.
Mika Kallio – “Today it has been an important day for us. Compare to yesterday we have sensibly improved and this gives me a lot of trust for the rest of the season. The Championship started really well with two eights positions, but then things got worst. Already yesterday the level was acceptable and now we have to continue on this direction also thanks to the great work done today. It has been a really positive session also because we have solved the problems encountered yesterday and the technical updates, most of all the new carbon fiber swingarm, gives me more confidence with the rear part of the bike even if there are still some aspects that we have to improve. It has been a long weekend and now I need to go back home in Finland to relax and prepare in the best way possible to the Assen race.”
link: Pramac Racing Team
The other rookie, Niccolo Canepa, also markedly improved with the former Ducati tester stopping the clocks 10th fastest. Sete Gibernau who returned to the championship on Sunday after shoulder surgery posted a faster time than Nicky Hayden who continued to struggle lapping slower than his race pace. Following his improved free practice performance and best race finish this year of 10th on the weekend it looked as if the tide could be finally turning for the popular American who has struggled to be competitive with Rossi and the newer crop of stars such as Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa on 800cc machinery since claiming the 2006 World Championship on a 990cc Honda.
Nicky Hayden – “It wasn’t the day I had hoped for, seeing the progress we had made over the weekend. In Saturday morning’s practice, when it was a little cooler and the conditions were similar to those of today, I lapped in 1m43.6 while here today I haven’t gone under 1m44 and right from the start I didn’t have the same feeling as I had over the weekend. I don’t know why, also because we worked so hard, but I hope that the data collected is of use to the engineers so we can prepare well for Assen.”
link: Superbike Planet
The best evidence for a problem with the Ducati is Marco Melandri, summarily dismissed from the factory squad after a dismal season last year he has bounced back with some stunning performances on the under developed Hayate Kawasaki this year. Now that series newcomer Kallio has posted such a fast time on the Pramac satellite bike it is evidence that the changes Ducati has made is making the GP9 more approachable for riders other than Stoner. We will have to wait for the next round of the championship at Assen to see if Mika in particular can convert his new found pace to a race result.
MotoGP Official Test: Barcelona
1. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1:42.230 (69 laps)
2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:42.434 (58)
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:42.446 (80)
4. Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1:42.637 (98)
5. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1:42.763 (38)
6. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1:43.188 (83)
7. Randy De Puniet (Honda) 1:43.247 (76)
8. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 1:43.299 (83)
9. Alex De Angelis (Honda) 1:43.360 (69)
10. Niccolo Canepa (Ducati) 1:43.391 (90)
11. Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) 1:43.506 (89)
12. Toni Elias (Honda) 1:43.708 (60)
13. Sete Gibernau (Ducati) 1:43.819 (45)
14. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1:44.1 (98)
15. Gabor Talmacsi (Honda) 1:45.056 (53)
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