The 2016 Ducati Team was presented today in the Ducati Auditorium, Borgo Panigale and the the livery of the new Desmosedici GP, the bike with which the factory riders Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone will be taking part in the 2016 MotoGP World Champiosnhip, was revealed.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team rider): “I am really excited about the 2016 championship, because we have a very important season ahead of us. This will be my fourth year in Ducati, and I believe that we have everything we need to aim big, especially after all the work we’ve been doing over the winter. I immediately found a good feeling with the Desmosedici GP, and I could see the positive aspects of the new bike. We still need a bit more time to fully adapt to the new Michelin tyres, but the early feelings are very good and so I’m optimistic.”

After a morning of damp weather, the MotoGP riders were finally able to get out on track shortly before midday and lap the Phillip Island circuit in dry conditions and on slick tyres.
Andrea and his team were able to carry on with the intense work programme scheduled for the new Desmosedici GP, and at the end of the day he was the rider who had been out on track the most (88 laps).

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’30.142 (12th)
“Luckily today we had good weather conditions that allowed us to work, and my feeling is positive. I am happy because in the first tests of the year in Malaysia we didn’t put in many laps and also yesterday we were disturbed by the bad weather. Today we did a lot of laps and now I feel comfortable with the Michelin tyres, which is our main objective at this moment. I am able to be constantly fast, but I didn’t go for a really quick one-lap time and that’s why I’m a bit down in the standings. It was in any case a positive day in which we achieved the right feeling and did some tests to better set up the bike and some components. Now we can start on detail work, tomorrow’s weather permitting.”

Ideal weather conditions greeted the MotoGP riders for the second of three days of testing organized by IRTA at the Sepang International Circuit on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
The Ducati Team rider has one of the new 2016 Desmosedici GP bike available together with one of last year’s model. Today he used exclusively the 2016 version.
The morning’s favourable weather conditions allowed almost all riders to set their reference time right away, but a spectacular crash on the main straight involving Frenchman Loris Baz on the Avintia Racing Ducati brought out the red flags and a delay of more than one hour in track activities.
Dovizioso returned to the track again at around 4 pm to complete the rest of his work load, which included testing Michelin front tyres and further refinements to the electronics set-up.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2’01.723 (14th), 35 laps
“It was a bit of a strange day, for several reasons. We had a few minor issues, which slowed us down a lot and conditioned the whole day. Unfortunately we were unable to carry out the scheduled back-to-back tests. This morning, after I had looked at some other riders, I got a better idea of the direction to take in my approach to the track with the Michelin tyres. We are still a bit off the pace, and for this reason there is still some way to go.”

After a winter break of more than two months, Andrea Dovizioso took to the track today together with all the other MotoGP World Championship protagonists, for the first pre-season IRTA tests. During this test he had available a 2015-spec Desmosedici and the new Desmosedici GP machine.
The Ducati rider focussed mainly on set-up work for the new electronic in the morning, consistently lapping at a good pace and gathering useful information for the new bike. After the break, Andreas stepped onto the Desmosedici GP, still with its black fairings, for the first time at around 4.30 pm, but after one hour a heavy downpour put an end to the day’s proceedings.
Even though he only completed a few laps with the 2016 bike, his impression was positive.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2’02.650 (13th), 40 laps
“I am happy with the good feeling I managed to find right away with the new Desmosedici GP. There are some positive aspects which I picked up on immediately: good handling, better precision in both changes of direction and corner turn-in, and other improvements in the bike’s overall behaviour. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to push it to the limit and set better times, due to the amount of things we had to test today and the conditions towards the end of the session as it began to rain and we couldn’t use the Michelin performance tyres. The important thing was to establish a good feeling with the new bike, and now we have two more days to work and take the Desmosedici GP to the limit.”