Both riders
continued to make good progress into the second day, although Carlos sat
out the morning's session as a result of illness. During the afternoon,
the Spaniard and his technicians were able to complete a large part of
the planned work and Checa was pleased to find a good solution as far as
front suspension is concerned. The times of most riders dropped
throughout the day but it was Carlos out in front once more, with a best
time of 1m32.1. Davide continued to build up confidence with both his
Ducati 1198 and the Australian track, recording a best of 1m33.7.
Today
was the third and final day of testing and, on a track even hotter than
yesterday, the Althea riders worked hard until the session's close.
Checa was pleased to be able to repeat yesterday's performance, putting
in a 1m31.8, the fastest lap of the whole session. Giugliano continued
to improve; the young Italian worked together with his team to refine
the set-up of his Ducati 1198, also finding time to test a new fork.
Carlos Checa:
"We
lost time yesterday because I was unwell; I stayed in bed for most of
the morning and only went out on track from about 2.30pm. Despite that
setback, we still got most of the work done luckily. Today was even
hotter and we tried different things but it seems hard to make further
improvements when we already feel like we're at the limit. We started
the season well here last year so we've compared last year's set-up to
this year's, considering the extra 6kg, and we understand the direction
to take. We'll continue with the work on Monday, concentrating mainly on
the tyres and their behavior in these hot conditions but for now I can
say I'm satisfied."
Davide Giugliano:
"All in all it's gone
well seeing as it's the first time I'm seeing the Phillip Island track. I
think we can be happy with the work completed over the three days,
though there's still a lot to do next week! Everything went more or less
to plan, apart from a crash on day one but, thanks to my team that has
worked hard to set the bike up to suit my riding style, I was able to
build confidence and I am feeling more positive as a result. Now we can
rest up for a couple of days before turning our minds to the next round
of tests."
Genesio Bevilacqua, General Manager of Althea Racing:
"Considering
that this has been a long and tiring test session, with very high track
temperatures, I think we can be satisfied with the results. We were
mainly checking the bike's set up and behavior in light of the extra six
kilos. It's clear that on this track Carlos is able to set some very
fast times but this wasn't our main focus here. We've worked hard and I
think it has paid off as we have a strong set-up and feel ready for the
off. We of course have a significant disadvantage with the extra weight
on board, and we've already seen here that riders like Laverty, Haslam,
Biaggi and Sykes are strong, but we are confident in Carlos' abilities.
As far as Davide is concerned, and bearing in mind that it's always
difficult for a rider with a new bike at a new track, I believe that he
has good pace and is definitely moving in the right direction. We
concentrated on making him comfortable and giving him confidence with
the bike and he made constant progress. The whole team is more united
than ever and we'll continue with our work programme next Monday."
UNOFFICIAL TIMES (third day): Carlos Checa 1m31.8, Davide Giugliano 1m33.5
