From a press release issued by Honda Racing:

BARROS AND HAYDEN BACK IN TESTING ACTION IN SPAIN

Alex Barros and Nicky Hayden completed a valuable first day of a two-day test at the Ricardo Tormo circuit on the outskirts of Valencia today (Saturday) in preparation for the 2004 MotoGP season that kicks off in South Africa in six weeks time.

Hayden returns to the track where he secured his first front row start during his debut GP season last year. The 22-year-old MotoGP Rookie of the Year had a good day on the 2004 Honda RC211V and cocked up 70 laps round the twisty 4.005km circuit.

Barros continues to make great progress since his winter shoulder operation and looked forward to getting back on the Honda RC211V at a track he notched up a victory at during the last race of the year in 2002.

Alex Barros
“A good day. I’m happy with the shoulder – no problems and it seems to be recovering well. After the high speed flowing tracks at Sepang and Phillip Island we’ve been getting the bike to work and a different circuit. We’ve made some changes to the gearbox and I’m really happy that the times are very similar to the times form the race that I won here in 2002. The rhythm was good and many of the laps were of constant pace to the race here. We have much date from today that will hopefully help in tomorrow’s progress.”

Best lap 1:33.5 81 laps


Nicky Hayden
“It was important to ride a completely different circuit in the build-up the start of the season. We’ve spent time at Sepang and Phillip Island and got the bike going pretty well there. This circuit is very twisty and I am pretty pleased with the set-up we have after the first day. We worked a lot on the suspension and are all pretty pleased with how the new chassis and the swing arm are improving things. The weather broke the day up a little – some rain – but mostly sun and wind. A positive day and am looking forward to moving on tomorrow.”

Best lap 1:33.7 70 laps



More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

POSITIVE DAY FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM AT VALENCIA

Valencia (Spain), March 6 2004: The Ducati Marlboro Team has returned to the Valencia circuit in Spain to continue development work on the new Desmosedici GP4 in preparation for the 2004 MotoGP championship, which promises to be one of the most hard-fought and exciting in recent years.

The new bike, which had its first shakedown in the torrid heat of the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, followed by the cooler climate of Phillip Island in Australia, appeared for the first time today at a European circuit. However strong winds hampered the day’s session and showers in the afternoon twice interrupted testing for riders Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi.

Despite the changeable weather, the temperature remained between 18° and 20° C (track between 17° and 27° C) for most of the day and the Ducati Marlboro Team engineers were able to complete the scheduled workload.

Troy Bayliss completed a total of 70 laps today, stopping the clocks at 1:33.56 (on race tyres), and knocking more than one second off the time he set in qualifying for the final race of last season on the same track. The Australian was pleased with today’s session. “Today we got through a lot of hard work. Despite the gusty wind, I put in a lot of laps” he commented. “We continued with front tyre development and now I’ve got a good feeling with both the 16.5″ and the 17″ tyres”.

Team-mate Loris Capirossi made a lengthy series of a few laps aimed at finding the best set-up for the Spanish circuit. “We are going well and our ideas are clear. Today we did a lot of work on the suspension and I am quite happy with the set-up of my Desmosedici” declared Loris. “There are still a few things that we will be working on tomorrow however. I’m sure we will get our lap time down, but for the moment I’m not really thinking about that, I prefer to focus on the development of the bike and prepare it for the championship”. The Italian rider completed a total of 46 laps, recording a best time of 1:34.00.

Ducati Corse test-rider Vittoriano Guareschi was also present at Valencia with a ‘laboratory’ bike, the Italian concentrating on the development of the Desmosedici.

The Ducati Marlboro Team will conclude testing at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Spain tomorrow, Sunday.