Ducati Aspar rider takes six tenths off previous best at Malaysian circuit
Three weeks after kicking off their testing schedule at Sepang the MotoGP teams and riders were back in Malaysia today for their second session of the 2010 preseason. Featuring the same structure as the last test here, yesterday the track was open exclusively to test riders whilst today and tomorrow are for the premier-class regulars. As usual at this time of year the intense head (38ºC ambient and 50ºC on track) are in stark contrast to the European winter but Valentino Rossi showed no signs of jetlag as he dominated the time sheets once again, although the lap times were much closer than in the previous test.
Ducati Aspar rider Héctor Barberá took to the circuit at around 10:30am and rode until 6pm, stopping for a two-hour lunch-break that was crucial to rest and re-hydrate in the gruelling conditions. Only two riders completed more than the Spaniard’s 62 laps today however as he continues to gather experience on the Ducati Desmosedici GP10, using today’s session to compare the differences between the aluminium and carbon swingarms. The rookie was as happy with both versions as he was with the improvements made to his electronic setting and proof of his contentment is in his fastest lap, which came before lunch and stopped the clock at 2’02.485 – an improvement of sixth tenths on his previous best here in the last test.
Héctor Barberá 2.02.485 (62 laps):
“The test has started well. First thing this morning we tried the carbon and aluminium swingarms to check out the differences and we also tried some new electronic configurations and it all went pretty well. As the day progressed I built up my pace and I set my fastest lap at around midday. We stopped for lunch at one and when I went back out in the afternoon the heat was suffocating and I found it hard to get into a rhythm again. I wasn’t enjoying myself as much and I found it hard to set fast lap times. The most positive thing about this first day is that I have improved by six tenths since the last time we were here at Sepang. I am happy because even though I feel I could have given a little bit more myself the team have really helped me and slowly but surely we are making progress.”
