From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Spanish rider Ruben Xaus (Ducati Fila) continued development work on the new Ducati 999 in the second and final day of Ducati Corse Superbike testing at Valencia. The Ricardo Tormo circuit is the venue for the upcoming SBK Winter Tests, scheduled for February 21 thru 23, as well as the opening round of the 2003 World Superbike Championship, which gets underway on March 2.

Today Xaus completed a total of 71 laps to add to his 100 yesterday, due to conditions (air 10° C/ track 13° C) that were slightly worse than on Friday. During the morning the 24 year-old from Barcelona continued to concentrate on front tyre testing, in collaboration with technicians from French manufacturer Michelin, setting a best time of 1’35.3, exactly the same as the time he recorded during the first day of the test. Ruben constantly lapped on this pace with race tyres, but was unable to improve due to strong winds in the afternoon.

“The weather hasn’t been too good the last two days and as a result we lost a lot of time” declared Ruben, “but despite this we still lapped on the same pace as last year’s race. I’m feeling pretty good with the 999 now, and even though the bike is still new, it’s coming on well in view of the official SBK tests here in a month’s time. Basically, the bike is fast and we’ve found some good front tyres over the last couple of days.”

Briton Neil Hodgson, still recovering from corrective surgery on his left wrist, will be back in action together with Ruben at the pre-season tests here in a month’s time.