From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Marlboro Catalan Grand Prix, Catalunya, June 13/14/15 2003

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM SCENTS FIRST MotoGP SUCCESS

The Ducati Marlboro Team arrives at Catalunya this weekend fresh from its strongest MotoGP performance so far. At Mugello last Sunday Loris Capirossi led the Italian GP aboard his Desmosedici, eventually finishing a superb second, just 1.4 seconds down on the race winner.

The Italian crew had already dazzled the MotoGP world with storming performances at the opening four GPs – leading every race, taking pole position in Spain and scoring two podium finishes – but Mugello proved beyond doubt that the Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici has the speed to win MotoGP races in its debut season.

And what speed! Capirossi established a new top-speed record at Mugello – tripping the timing lights at an astonishing 332.4kmh/206.5mph – and that straight-line performance will also be crucial down Catalunya’s long main straight. Capirossi has already proved the bike’s performance at the Spanish track – during preseason testing at Catalunya he clocked 328.2kmh/203.9mph, several kmh/mph better than the quickest F1 car at the recent Spanish F1 GP!

Team-mate Troy Bayliss looks forward to round six of the 2003 MotoGP series as a chance to get back on track after a couple of unlucky races in Italy and France. When things go right, the hard-charging Aussie is right on the pace – he’s already led two GPs, qualified on the front row once and finished on the podium once.

After the Marlboro Catalan GP the paddock packs up and heads north for the Dutch GP in two weeks and the British GP a fortnight later.

A BUSY TIME FOR A HARD-WORKING TEAM
It was three months ago at Catalunya that the MotoGP world woke up to the fact that the Ducati Marlboro Team would be a real force to be reckoned with in its very first World Championship season. Loris Capirossi blitzed the televised test session, breaking the all-time MotoGP top speed record at the same time.

Now everyone is used to seeing the red and white machines battling up front with their vastly more experienced MotoGP rivals. Nevertheless, the Desmosedici project is still in its earliest stages, with plenty learned from each and every outing, and those lessons quickly turned into new hardware and new settings.

“This is a busy time for everyone at Ducati Corse,” says Ducati Marlboro Team director Livio Suppo. “We have two races on back-to-back Sundays and our test team is at Mugello on the Tuesday and Wednesday in between. It’s busy… but normal! I think Loris comes to Catalunya in a perfect state of mind – he rode a fantastic race at Mugello and was very close to the winner. I think it’s also nice for Troy to have another race right after his fall at Mugello – it’s good for him to jump back on the bike as soon as possible.”

Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli has high hopes for this weekend. “We ran with the winner at Mugello, we were so close that you can’t even call us the first of the losers,” he smiles. “I think Catalunya will also be good for us, because it’s similar in some ways to Mugello. Of course, we know we need to make some improvements to the bike. We were very happy with straight-line, braking and cornering performance at Mugello, all we really need to work on at the moment is improving the way the bike changes direction. We will have to think about how to achieve this.

“The important factors at Catalunya are speed, plus braking confidence, especially in downhill corners. Loris is generally happy, he just wants the bike to change direction better. For Troy we need to improve his front-end settings. He found a good set-up for the Mugello race, but he still didn’t have enough confidence, so he had to risk too much.”

BAYLISS HOPES FOR A BETTER WEEKEND
Former World Superbike champ Troy Bayliss has had an amazing entry into the world of MotoGP racing. He led his second race in the class at Welkom in April, where he proved that he’s up for anything with some determined riding alongside reigning World Champ Valentino Rossi (Honda). And in Spain last month he scored his first MotoGP front-row start, just one hundredth of a second slower than pole-sitter and team-mate Loris Capirossi, backing up that performance with a brave race to third place.

But the last two races have been less kind to the man they call ‘Baylisstic’. He fell in France and again in Italy last weekend, where he had charged through from a third-row start to take sixth place at half-distance. “I’m not over the moon with confidence at the moment – I hate not finishing races,” says the straight-talking Aussie, currently sixth on points. “Hopefully Catalunya will be better. We’ve tested there once and I’m looking forward to going back. It’s a little bit tricky – it’s one of those tracks that doesn’t look so difficult – but there’s quite a few places where you’ve got to get it all right and put it all together, especially the last split – the final few corners, including the last two fast rights – that’s important. When I go to a new place I tend to try and rush things too much, places like this you’ve got to relax a bit, which is easy to say, but less easy to do…”

CAPIROSSI HAS THE PACE TO WIN
Loris Capirossi’s stunning ride to second in Italy last Sunday has given the Italian a huge confidence boost for this weekend’s Marlboro Catalan GP. Just 1.4 seconds behind Valentino Rossi at Mugello, he knows he has every chance of being in the hunt for the Ducati Marlboro Team’s maiden GP victory at Catalunya. That ride out front at Mugello taught Capirossi and his crew plenty about the Desmosedici, lessons which they’ll incorporate into the bike’s set-up for Catalunya.

“The bike continues to get better, day by day,” says the former 125 and 250 champ, currently seventh in the World Championship. “I’m looking forward to Catalunya and I hope we can maintain our good performances and good luck there. We had a very good test there in March – the bike was so fast, so I think we can start Friday with a good base set-up. But I don’t think it will be an easy weekend for us – there’s a big difference between running one very fast lap time running a race pace that’s fast enough to win a GP. I think the bike will be better at Catalunya than Mugello because we’ve done better tests there. It’s a fast track and that suits the character of our bike. The places to make time are the first fast right, and the double right that leads onto the start-finish.”

Capirossi has scored two podium finishes on the Desmosedici so far this year – at Suzuka and Mugello – but he’s also had three DNFs. He has also been awesome in qualifying, taking front-row starts at the last four GPs, including pole position at Jerez.

THE TRACK
Just one week after racing at Italy’s technically demanding Mugello circuit, riders and engineers face another complex challenge at Catalunya this weekend. The Spanish circuit is characterised by long, constant-radius corners that place the emphasis on a flowing riding style, and excellent chassis and front-tyre performance. But there are two other factors that further complicate matters: the surface has become increasingly bumpy over recent years, making suspension set-up a time-consuming game, and the dusty local environment can cause frequent and unpredictable changes in grip characteristics if dust gets blown onto the tarmac.

Catalunya is in the centre of Spain’s motorcycle racing heartland and joined the GP fixture list in 1992, hosting the Grand Prix of Europe. Wayne Rainey (Marlboro Team Roberts Yamaha) won the first-ever 500 GP at the track in May ’92. In ’96 the event was renamed the Catalan Grand Prix.

CATALUNYA: 4.727km/2.937 miles
Lap record: Valentino Rossi (Honda), 1m 45.594s
Pole position 2002: Max Biaggi (Yamaha), 1m 44.523s

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM DATA LOGS
TROY BAYLISS
Age: 34
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici
First GP: Australia, 1997 (250)
GP starts: 6 (5xMotoGP, 1×250)
World Superbike victories: 22
World Championships: 1 (Superbike: 2001)
Catalunya 2002 results: DNS

LORIS CAPIROSSI
Age: 30
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici
GP victories: 22 (2×500, 12×250, 8×125)
First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125)
First GP: Japan, 1990 (125)
GP starts: 189 (19xMotoGP, 59×500, 84×250, 27×125)
Pole positions: 34 (1xMotoGP, 5×500, 23×250, 5×125)
First pole: Australia, 1991 (125)
World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998)
Catalunya 2002 results. Grid: 5th. Race: 6th