Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) was second quickest with a time of 1m36.556s, just a fraction behind Ruben Xaus (Ducati Sterilgarda), in two days of FGSport official testing action at a scorching Vallelunga circuit on the outskirts of Rome. This was the first time most of the WSBK teams had got to grips with the 4.110 km Vallelunga track in view of the penultimate round of the championship on September 30, although the Ducati Xerox Team had already tested here back in February, when conditions were much cooler.
After almost ten hours of testing, Bayliss was satisfied with his time, set on the Sunday morning with a qualifying tyre. But also on race set-up, the Australian was pretty happy with the way the test had gone.
"We've just done a lot of laps basically and didn't really learn much here this afternoon because the track was hotter and not as fast and we didn't try any more soft tyres" commented Troy. "But all in all the feeling's reasonably good on the bike and now we've got a bit of a break until the next race in Brno, which is probably the most difficult race of the year for us. I did this morning's time on a qualifier but we're not too bad on race tyres either, even though we didn't do a full long-run. When we come back here it's going to be a bit cooler so it's not really useful. The times are quite a bit quicker than in the February test but we didn't have any other bikes here then and the other guys are all going pretty strong now".
Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi, who set eleventh quickest time, was unable to complete the second afternoon of testing at Vallelunga as his right ankle was still swollen from the effects of a trial-bike accident earlier in the week.
"Unfortunately these two days of testing were conditioned by a minor injury that I picked up during the week, which also prevented me from taking part in the final session" declared Lorenzo. "However we managed to find some good solutions for the race here in September. We also have a clear idea of what tyres to use seeing as the conditions in the race will probably be similar to those we have encountered over the last couple of days. Despite the fact that I wasn't completely fit, I lapped just a few tenths of a second slower than Troy with race tyres. Unfortunately I was not able to get the best out of the qualifying tyres, but this result makes me optimistic for the race in September."
Times:
1. Xaus (Ducati) 1m36.382s
2. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m36.556s
3. Corser (Yamaha) 1m36.731s
4. Toseland (Honda) 1m36.783s
5. Biaggi (Suzuki) 1m37.440s
6. Laconi (Kawasaki) 1m37.455s
7. Haga (Yamaha) 1m37.506s
8. Rolfo (Honda) 1m37.647s
11. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m37.873s
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