Where do I start this… lets talk about Canepa and his new 1 year contract with Ducati as the spare rider, should any of the four main riders be injured, and the 19 year old will aid Vittoriano Guareschi with development duties of Ducati’s MotoGP machinery. He has the opportunity to aid in other development programs in other series and hopes to make the wild card appearance for 2008, a decision to be decided by Ducati Corse. He is working on an engineering degree and praised for his calm approach and excellent feedback.
Other news is Rizla Suzuki apparently was on the down-low down-under, conducting secret testing for 2 days at Phillip Island. With a near empty track, Suzuki was able to get a ton of development and testing work done on the latest GSV-R. Riders Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi put in about 200 laps each in their final ride of 2007. Suzuki has yet to make the best times public, but Vermeulen hinted that he bested his best lap from the race there in October 2007. He left Australia content and eager to get more testing and work done so that his Team can be as competitive as possible.
Day two of testing started of relaxed, with better weather than the track has seen in the last week or two. By mid-day Stoner was the fastest man on the track, with good warm weather aiding all. But things went down-hill for the Champion after that, falling hard on turn 3 after falling to 8th fastest on the list, resulting in a suspected ligament damage to his shoulder. Casey Stoner made his way to Clinica Mobile where he was treated and placed in a sling. He later remarked he would rest and see how things were feeling but he may be out for the rest of this testing event in Spain.
And of course Valentino Rossi was the 2nd fastest rider today, going faster than he had on the same track with Michelin tyres onboard his Yamaha M1. All this was aboard the 2007 version of the bike, besting Casey Stoners best from yesterday.
And the fastest man of the day was Dani Pedrosa, the only rider to break below the 1′40 barrier clocking a 1′39.993 onboard his Honda RC212V.
1. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda - 1′39.993
2. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha - 1′40.134
3. Shinya Nakano - Honda Gresini - 1′40.251
4. Alex de Angelis - Honda Gresini - 1′40.332
5. Andrea Dovizioso - JiR Scot - 1′40.650
6. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda - 1′40.692
7. Randy de Puniet - Honda LCR - 1′40.820
8. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - 1′40.833
9. Colin Edwards - Yamaha Tech 3 - 1′40.838
10. Jorge Lorenzo - Fiat Yamaha - 1′40.883
