As we expected, also because Ducati team manager Vitto Guareschi had confirmed it early July, Ducati will not be testing their GP12 during Monday’s official post race test at Brno, but only their 800cc machine.
Ducati perfers to continue testing their GP12 privately, and their next test will be at Misano for two days, so we won’t be able to see any comparison between Yamaha, Honda and Ducati on Monday at the Czech circuit, maybe because Rossi has already revealed that their GP12 is slower than the 800cc and Ducati may want to avoid a ‘brutta figura’ (give a bad impression).
Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden however will be present (they decided to skip the last official test date at Mugello) and will working solely on their current 2011 bikes.
“The Test Team tried some electronics updates at Mugello, and we’ll use them in the post-race test at Brno to continue improving the setup and reduce the gap to the lead group.
Filippo [Preziosi] will be on hand Monday, and we’ll continue the development work on the GP11.
1 with both Valentino and Nicky,” said Guareschi in the Czech GP preview press release.
Rossi will continue to use the GP11.
1 during the upcoming race weekend, while Hayden expects to continue to use the GP11 step 2 after trying out the GP11.
1 during Friday’s Laguna Seca practice sessions.
“Obviously the test on Monday will be really important for us.
I’ll probably just ride the GP11 on the race weekend and then test the new bike on Monday,” said Hayden.
