The Ducati riders ready for the Barcelona GP….

BAYLISS HOPES FOR A BETTER WEEKEND
The debut of the former Superbike World Champion Troy bayliss
in the MotoGP class it was surprising. He went to the head of the
his second race in April in Welkom, and he showed it on that occasion
to be ready for anything, challenging the Champion with great determination
World reigning Valentino Rossi (Honda). In Spain, last month, he conquered
for the first time the front row on the starting grid of the MotoGP class,
just one hundredth of a second behind the pole position holder, his
teammate Loris Capirossi, and then ran a courageous race getting
third place.

The last two races, however, have been less generous with the well-known driver
like 'Baylistic'. In France he fell, and so did he
in Italy last weekend, after recovering from the third row in
grid up to sixth place halfway through the race. “I'm definitely not ai
highest levels of self-esteem right now: I hate not finishing races,”
said the Australian, currently sixth in the standings, with his usual frankness
championship. “I hope things will be better in Catalunya. We already have
I tried it once on this track and I'm happy to go back. And a little'
treacherous: it's one of those routes that doesn't seem difficult on paper,
instead he has several points to address in the right way after making choices
right. Especially the last split time (the last corners, including the two
fast to the right at the end of the lap) is important. When I'm on a new one
track, I tend to speed up too much, but on tracks like this you have to
go slowly: easy to say!”

CAPIROSSI: THE RIGHT PACE TO WIN
The fantastic performance he gave to Loris Capirossi The second one
place in the home GP last Sunday makes the Italian feel psychologically
very strong for this weekend's race, the Marlboro GP of Catalunya. Arrived
just 1,4 seconds behind Valentino Rossi at the Mugello finish line, Loris knows
good to be able to aim for the first victory for the Ducati Marlboro Team in the GP
in Catalonia. Those first laps in front of everyone at Mugello taught us a lot
to Capirossi and his team on the potential of the Desmosedici: data of which
will be taken into account for motorbike adjustments in Catalunya.

“The bike continues to improve, day after day,” says the already
world champion of the 125 and 250 classes, currently seventh in the World Championship.
“I can't wait to race in Catalunya and I hope we repeat the
our good performances and that luck will also continue to assist us.
We did some excellent testing here in March: the bike was very fast, and so
I think we can start from Friday with a good set-up
basic. But I don't think it will be an easy weekend for us: it is there
a big difference between doing a single very fast lap and racing an entire one
race at a pace high enough to win a GP. I believe that
the bike will be even better in Catalunya than in Mugello, because
we have done more satisfactory tests on this track. It's a
fast track that suits the character of our bike. The points where
making time are the first fast right bend, and the double right bend
which leads onto the finishing straight.”

Capirossi has already reached the podium twice racing with the Desmosedici
this year, at Suzuka and Mugello, however he didn't finish three other times
the race. He has always had excellent qualifying sessions, starting from the front row
in the last four GPs, and even from pole position in Jerez.