2013 Ducati GP13 MotoGP Prepping
With the official MotoGP testing ban currently in place, Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso are forbidden from piloting the GP13.
But while the ban is in place, the development continues with the GP13, which was unveiled at Wrooom 2013 at Madonna di Campiglio last week.
With Ducati MotoGP test riders Franco Battaini and newly-hired Michele Pirro, Ducati was able to get in two days of development at Jerez in Spain Saturday and Sunday, though Monday’s sessions were halted by bad weather.
Present at the tests was Ducati Corse General Manager Bernhard Gobmeier, the German who replaced Filippo Preziosi.
Bernhard Gobmeier says: “Unfortunately we had some bad luck with the weather, and for two days we were able to do almost nothing. It rained almost the whole time. Today we squeezed three days of work into about five hours, which obviously required skipping some of the steps we had planned.
“Anyway, some interesting and positive results emerged, in terms of both the chassis and electronic strategies that we tried. If nothing else, we established a clear line to follow in our next test at Jerez. Anyway, I was very pleased to see how concentrated the guys on the test team worked. Everybody was very motivated.”
Michele Pirro, the 26-year-old Italian from San Giovanni Rotondo, says “the big problem was the weather. That’s always a risk with Jerez in January. Fortunately, we were able to do some laps this afternoon and gather some important data for developing the bike. It was nice to get back on the track after two months.”
The next test, which will be attended by the Ducati Team riders, will take place at Sepang (Malaysia) 5-7 February, and will be the first of three pre-season tests organized by IRTA, with the season-opening MotoGP race scheduled for the first weekend of April in Qatar.
