The Ducati Marlboro team started Day 2 of the 2nd test in Malaysia with high hopes of improving the new GP11 setup after a mixed bag of results yesterday. However, Valentino Rossi had to sit out the day after arriving at the track with flu symptoms, the veteran Italian consulted the the medics at the Clinica Mobile and it was decided he should return to his hotel after some anti-flu treatment. It is hoped the unplanned day off will lead to better results tomorrow.
So it was left for Nicky Hayden to gather the data for the day, but unplanned glitches proved to be the spanner in the works, as the American finished the day in 12th on the timesheet.
“It wasn't the smoothest day” said Hayden “We had a couple of time-consuming glitches.”
“We had planned to put on some fresh tyres at the end to see how good the changes we'd made really were, but we had a small problem with the gearbox near the end, and there wasn't time to go back out. We still did 44 laps though, and it was a pretty solid day overall. The team really worked hard today, so thanks to them as always. Our gap to the front is still quite big, but we've definitely managed to get the chatter a lot better. It's not completely cured, but it's good enough that we can focus on some other stuff. I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow, so hopefully we can take a big step and leave here positive.”
