From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM MAKES DEBUT APPEARANCE WITH BRIDGESTONE TYRES

Jerez de La Frontera, 22 November 2004 – Following the announcement of a collaboration agreement with Bridgestone to take part in the 2005 MotoGP World Championship, the Ducati Marlboro Team will be taking to the track this week for its first appearance with the Japanese manufacturer’s tyres. Three days of testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain will be the first, important test session for this new partnership in preparation for the 2005 season. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the Ducati Marlboro Team will be present with its two factory riders, Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa, to work on the set-up of the bike and to gain confidence with the new tyres.

This is also a significant debut for the Italian team for purely emotional reasons. “Tomorrow will be a really special day” declared Livio Suppo, Ducati Marlboro Team director. “For the first time our riders will test the Desmosedici on Bridgestone tyres and we will start to work with our new partner in preparation for next season. It will be the first appearance for the new partnership, with new faces in the pit garage, and after two years of close and constructive collaboration in MotoGP, it will be a strange feeling not to have Michelin technicians working alongside us. We must however now concentrate on 2005 and take advantage of every lap on the track to give the Desmosedici the possibility of recovering from 2004 and expressing the enormous potential of this fantastic bike. We have three days of testing here at Jerez and two more next week at Valencia. Let’s hope that the good weather gives us a hand so that Loris and Carlos can get used to the new tyres and work in the best possible way.”

Immediately after the Jerez tests the Ducati Marlboro Team will remain in Spain, this time at the Valencia circuit, where on November 29 and 30 it will be continuing testing work in preparation for the 2005 season. At Jerez and Valencia, in addition to Capirossi and Checa, the World Superbike championship runner-up Régis Laconi will also be present in the unusual role of test-rider with the Ducati Corse development team Desmosedici.

“In these last tests of 2004 we will also be helped by Régis Laconi” concluded Suppo. “Régis has considerable experience in GP and for this reason we asked him to give us a hand in these tests. Loris and Carlos will focus on tyres, while he will work with the development team engineers on several new components for the GP5, components which have already been tested by Vittoriano Guareschi and which will be tried out by Régis to speed up the development of the Desmosedici before being given to Loris and Carlos. The presence of Régis in our development team is purely one-off and Vittoriano will continue to be the official test-rider next year again for the Ducati Marlboro Team.”