From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
DUCATI CORSE PRESS INFORMATION
Valencia (Spain)
Sunday 3rd November 2002
DUCATI DESMOSEDICI MAKES PUBLIC DEBUT AT VALENCIA
The Ducati Desmosedici made its public debut at the Valencia circuit in Spain today with three demonstration laps in front of 120,000 spectators prior to the final round of this year’s MotoGP championship.
Surrounded by media from all over the world and an incredible crowd of spectators, 2001 World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss emerged from the garage at 10.42 precisely, followed shortly afterwards by test-rider Vittoriano Guareschi.
Troy was riding the ‘twin pulse’ version of the V4 bike, with simultaneous firing order, while Guareschi was using the power-unit with conventional firing order.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work in Ducati recently and today was really exciting because we put on a show for everyone to demonstrate that we are finally ready to go GP racing” declared Troy. “So far the tests with the Desmosedici have gone really well, but conditions have not been that great. I’ve ridden the bike with both versions of the engine and all I can say is that for some reason the ‘twin-pulse’ really sounds like a Ducati, while the other one sounds more like a missile! Now I’m looking forward to the real testing work over the winter. We’ve got two different directions to go and it’s only a matter of the stopwatch before we decide which engine configuration to use”.
In February 2002, when it announced the architecture of the engine to power its motorbike for the MotoGP championship, Ducati has in fact always declared that it would build the Desmo 989cc engine in two different configurations.
Ducati Corse is scheduled to remain at the Valencia circuit next week for two day’s testing behind closed doors on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 November with its two 2003 MotoGP riders Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi. ‘Vitto’ Guareschi will also be present, together with Ruben Xaus, who will continue tests of the Ducati 999 Superbike.