From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

DUCATI CORSE PRESS INFORMATION
Valencia (Spain)
Wednesday 6 November 2002

CAPIROSSI MAKES DUCATI DESMOSEDICI DEBUT AT VALENCIA TOGETHER WITH BAYLISS AND GUARESCHI – XAUS GETS 999 SUPERBIKE TESTING PROGRAMME UNDERWAY

Ducati Corse’s MotoGP programme switched into top gear today as Loris Capirossi rode the Ducati Desmosedici prototype for the first time at the Valencia Circuit in Spain. Capirossi was testing together with his future team-mate Troy Bayliss, who has already ridden the Desmosedici twice at Mugello and Valencia last month and Vittoriano Guareschi, factory test-rider for the MotoGP programme.

Loris Capirossi, a Honda Pons-contracted rider until the end of the year, has received special dispensation from his Spanish team manager to take part in the scheduled tests from now until the end of the year. Ducati Corse will respect Loris’s current contract and as a result his bike will run without any sponsor logos and with white fairings in these and forthcoming tests.

The 29-year-old Italian, who is riding a four-stroke bike for the first time in his lengthy racing career, completed 56 laps of the 4.005 km circuit and soon got used to the different engine-braking and acceleration characteristics of the Ducati Desmosedici. He mainly concentrated on front-end set-up and his best time was 1:35.8.

Three days after making a ‘demo’ lap of Valencia in front of 120,000 spectators before the final round of the 2002 season on Sunday, Troy Bayliss continued his learning curve on Ducati’s new MotoGP challenger. Today Troy completed 59 laps, focussing on comparative tests between the 16.5″ front tyre, which he has always used on the 998 Superbike, and the 17″ one, currently used by all riders in MotoGP. The Australian’s best time was 1:35.4.

Ducati Corse Race Technical Director Corrado Cecchinelli commented: “We are really pleased with how things went today and in particular the way Troy and Loris worked together. Throughout the day, Troy, who has a lot of experience with four-stroke machines, and Loris, who has been around in 500 and MotoGP for a long time, exchanged a series of information which will be useful for Ducati Corse in the future development of our Desmosedici prototype”

Today also saw intense activity for the Spanish rider Ruben Xaus, who began his testing programme with the Ducati 999 Superbike with which he will tackle next year’s World Superbike Championship.

Ruben, who was recently confirmed as factory Ducati Corse 2003 Superbike rider for the 2003 championship, stepped onto the 999 Superbike for the second time after a brief test session in September and completed 66 laps, continuing set-up work on the brand-new twin-cylinder bike from the Borgo Panigale factory. Ruben’s best time today was 1:36.0″.

Tomorrow will see the second and final day of Ducati Corse testing at Valencia.