From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

POSITIVE BALANCE FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM TESTING IN AUSTRALIA

Phillip Island (Australia), 19 February 2004 – The third and final day of testing for the Ducati Marlboro Team at Phillip Island, Australia saw the squad complete the work schedule for the new Desmosedici GP4 and gather a series of vital data for the Italian V4 bike’s development. Both Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi carried out a massive amount of work over the three days, and the Ducati Marlboro Team preferred to focus on testing radically different set-ups rather than going all out for the quickest times. The search for a balanced set-up which can be a good benchmark for all circuits is fundamental for championship preparation and the tests revolved around this.

A vital contribution in this test period for the development of the new bike has also come from technical partners Shell Advance and Michelin. The Ducati Marlboro Team is now returning to Europe to allow the engineering staff led by Filippo Preziosi to analyse all the information accumulated during these tests and will return to the track at Valencia, Spain on March 6-7.

Weather conditions continued to be warm and sunny throughout the day with a light breeze in the afternoon (air 19° – 22° C; track 21° – 44° C).

Loris Capirossi, who yesterday had the satisfaction of being the quickest rider around the track, today completed a total of 56 laps, with a best time of 1:30.97. The Italian rider continued to focus on finding the best feeling with the new 16.5″ front tyre, and was just two-tenths of a second away from yesterday’s time. “I am quite pleased with the way today’s testing went” declared Capirossi. “I did my quickest laps in the morning, while in the afternoon I lost a little bit of feeling with the front, but for the moment it’s OK. We’ve done a lot of work over the past two weeks. The GP4 is a new bike and it is already giving us a lot of satisfaction despite being at the start of its development phase.”

Troy Bayliss completed 68 laps, setting a best time of 1:31.64. The Australian carried out a series of long runs to verify the set-up of his Desmosedici, and put in considerable mileage to get used to the new 16.5″ front tyre. “I am satisfied with the work we did in the morning” declared Troy. “We tested a number of different settings, but I still can’t get used to the 16.5″ front. We did a lot of work in six days and although my times aren’t what I wanted, it’s not the most important thing at this stage. These tests were aimed at developing the bike and finding the best possible set-up.”