From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

LACONI (DUCATI FILA) LEADS THE WAY IN OFFICIAL WSBK TESTING AT VALENCIA

Valencia (Spain), 11 February 2004: Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila) set the pace on the first day of the official pre-season World Superbike testing session at Valencia today. The 28-year-old Frenchman demonstrated his championship potential with a time of 1:36.53 around the Ricardo Tormo track on the 2004-spec version of the Ducati 999. His British team-mate James Toseland was three-tenths of a second off Laconi’s pace with a time of 1:36.86 as the Ducati Fila riders sandwiched an impressive Leon Haslem on a Renegade Ducati
999RS.

Both Ducati Fila riders continued development work on the 999 Factory ‘04s that will make their debut at the Valencia opening round in two weeks time. Regis Laconi (40 laps) set his quickest time in the morning and then crashed out on oil late in the afternoon but was unhurt. “Apart from the crash, the day wasn’t so bad” declared Laconi. “I set my best time early but in general the first day’s times were slower than last time we were here because it was cold in the morning and then we didn’t do that many laps in the afternoon. Tomorrow things will heat up for sure.”

James Toseland (49 laps) bedded in new forks in the morning as he got to grips with his 999 but then improved to 1:36.86 in the afternoon. “We started off with different fork settings from the ones we used in Phillip Island and I had to get used to that at first, and then we tried a few other things during the day” he commented. “We’re just checking that everything is going well with the new bike, but I feel confident because I know we’re going in the right direction”.


TIMES: 1. Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1:36.53; 2. Haslem (Ducati Renegade) 1:36.74; 3. Toseland (Ducati Fila) 1:36.86; 4. Fuertes (Suzuki) 1:37.27; 5. Vermeulen (Honda) 1:37.37 ; 6. Haga (Ducati Renegade) 1:37.64 ; 7. Martin (DFX Ducati)
1:37.68; 8. Corser (Petronas) 1:37.83; etc.



LANZI AND GUARESCHI HARD AT WORK FOR DUCATI BREIL SUPERSPORT TEAM

Lorenzo Lanzi made further progress today on the Ducati 749R that he will race in this year’s World Supersport Championship, notching up considerable development mileage on the brand-new Factory bike.

22-year-old Lanzi set fourteenth quickest time in 1:39.83, almost a second ahead of Ducati Corse tester Vittoriano Guareschi (1:40.70), who is also present at Valencia to help speed up the 749R’s development curve.

Lanzi and Guareschi focussed on suspension and general set-up work in collaboration with Ohlins technicians and although they were not amongst the front-runners, both riders were able to give major feedback to Ducati Corse engineers that will be useful over the next two days of testing.


More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:

Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders focus on set-up in Spain

Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Troy Corser and Chris Walker were today provided with an
indication of the task ahead for the new World Superbike championship season.

On the first day of the championship’s three-day official winter test at Valencia, both riders
faced further difficulties in familiarisation with new Pirelli tyres.

Having made progress with tyre construction at the team’s January test in Australia, a chatter
problem re-emerged to become the focus of the team’s efforts throughout the day.

Troy finished the day with a best time of 1:37.805, the eighth fastest time of a full World
Superbike field, while new team-mate Chris was 12th fastest during the day with a time of
1:38.618. Regis Laconi on the factory Ducati set the pace with a best lap of 1:36.608.

Troy said: “The key for me today has been the suspension, and trying to cure the chatter
problem. But we have worked with Ohlins to come up with a different internal rear shock
setting and made progress. On my first lap with this setting I took a second off my best time.
Tomorrow we want to do more work on the front forks.”

Chris said: “It has been frustrating for me, with chatter from the word ‘go’. We were not able
to use the tyres that we found to work best in Australia so, to some extent, we have been
reinventing the wheel today.”

Official WSBK championship test, Valencia, Spain – Day One

1. Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1:36.538
2. Leon Haslam (Renegade Ducati) 1:36.748
3. James Toseland (Ducati Fila) 1:36.860
4. Fuertes (MIR Racing) 1:37.274
5. Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda) 1:37.377
6. Noriyuki Haga (Renegade Ducati) 1:37.649
7. Steve Martin (DFX Ducati) 1:37.680
8. Troy Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:37.805
9. Pierfranceso Chili (PSG-1 Ducati) 1:37.837
10. Marco Borciani (DFX Ducati) 1:37.867
11. Mauro Sanchini (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 1:38.073
12. Chris Walker (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:38.618
13. Garry McCoy (NCR Ducati) 1:38.756