Xavier Simeon and Daniele Beretta clock up over 180 laps at Binnetto circuit, Italy
THE JUNIOR Ducati Xerox team has just finished another two day long test in preparation for the coming season. Riders Xavier Simeon and Daniele Beretta were out in action at the Italian Binetto circuit.
Weather conditions were cold and strong winds plagues the area, but each rider still managed more than 180 laps.
Simeon was pretty chuffed with his times, even though he struggled with the track and gearing. He said: "It is important, at this stage of the season, to be able to clock up as many kilometres as possible to increase the feeling with my bike. The intense cold was our worst enemy but, thanks to the work of the whole team, we were able to get the planned work done. I had never seen Binetto before so it took me a bit of time to learn this track, so short but with so many corners. A difficult test due to my bike's power in the lower gears but I made constant improvement with a final fastest time of 47.2 which wasn't bad for the track conditions. We'll do three more days of testing at Valencia in March and then the championship gets underway - I can't wait to start!"
Team-mate Beretta added: "Binetto is new to me and riding a 1000cc bike here is not easy. I am still riding in a way that doesn't allow me to maximise the potential of my bike but during this test I was constantly improving lap after lap. My best time was 47.9 and the team was happy with this although I would have liked to have been faster. I made as many laps as possible on used tyres to better understand tyre-wear over long distances, an important exercise made more difficult by the cold. We still have time to improve further and this means I am still pretty calm."
