Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden ready to return to action with the Ducati GP12

The Ducati Team riders were the stars of the first day of Wrooom 2012 at Madonna di Campiglio, with Nicky Hayden first to “take to the track” and answer questions from the international press in attendance. The American, who is recovering well enough from his injured left scapula that he has already removed his sling, then passed the baton to a pleased Valentino Rossi, who is motivated to get back in the saddle and start winter testing in just over two weeks.

“I’m much better,” confirmed Nicky Hayden, “so I’ve been able to remove the sling right on schedule. Here at Madonna di Campiglio, I’m starting to do a little training on a stationary bicycle under the supervision of the team physiotherapist, with the goal of being ready for the Sepang test (31 January – 2 February) as strong as possible. I can’t wait to ride the GP12, because it will be my first time ever. I wasn’t able to try it in the post-race test at Valencia, and I definitely won’t miss the next chance. I never made any secret that I prefer the new displacement to the 800s, although I think things will be much different than in 2006, beginning with the tyres, and the electronics have also come a long way. We’ll have more power, and we’ll have to find the right balance between controlling it while still taking as much advantage of it as we can. I’ve stayed in contact with Filippo (Preziosi) and the guys in the Ducati Corse department over the winter, and I know they’ve worked really hard. We’ll have a lot of things to try at Sepang. I know it won’t be easy, but I’m also confident that we can start to reduce the gap between now and the first race at Qatar. I believe in Ducati, this project and Filippo, and I want to get back on my Ducati as soon as possible.”

“We’re starting with a different spirit,” Valentino Rossi began with a smile. “When I came to Wrooom, I was still healing from my shoulder operation, and after that, the season didn’t go at all like we’d hoped. For this year, Filippo (Preziosi) designed a different bike, and they’ve made a big effort at Ducati to have it in time for the start of the winter tests. I visited the factory and saw it on a computer, and it’s beautiful. We’re not expecting it to be immediately perfect at Sepang, but rather to understand if we’ve worked in the proper direction. We’re very realistic, and our goal is to reduce the gap to our competition, step by step, working in a logical way, and from there to be able to refine the details in order to be competitive and to try and win. One of the most important things for going fast is to make the tyres work as they’re able to, so together with Filippo, we’ve tried to come up with a bike that will let them perform as well as possible. We’ll see if we’ve managed it. I like working with Ducati. I feel good here because there’s a nice atmosphere and we all have faith.”

Wrooom continues tomorrow with the press conference for Filippo Preziosi, Ducati Corse General Manager, who will go into detail on the bike’s development and the technical program that will allow the Desmosedici GP12 to confront the new MotoGP season as well as possible.

Front end issues struck the factory Ducati team once again today, as Valentino Rossi crashed out of the Australian MotoGP whilst battling for 5th position with Alvaro Bautista on lap 14.

Rossi started the race from the fourth row, but quickly found his rhythm and worked his way up the field to 7th position. As soon as he got Nicky Hayden and Alvaro Bautista in his sights he quickly caught up and joined the fight for 5th position. Rossi eventually passed Bautista to claim 5th, but the success was short-lived as he lost the front and slid out of the race.

Nicky Hayden had a decent enough race, but the American probably could have finished higher if it wasn’t for his decision to come into the pits and change his bike when it began raining four laps from the end. The rain proved to a passing shower and Hayden lost time and positions on the track – that said, many riders who didn’t change their tyres slid out in the wet conditions (including Bautista).

Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden both discuss the Australian MotoGP below:

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) DNF
“The crash was really a shame because I could have finished fifth. After a pretty good start, I lost some ground to Nicky and Bautista, but then I found my rhythm and managed to get them both. Unfortunately, I lost the front when I passed Alvaro, and I’m really disappointed because I didn’t expect it. Evidently, despite all our hard work, we still haven’t solved this problem. Anyway, both in Japan and here, we could have collected some good points, and instead we leave with none. That said, we’re still working, and we’ll have a number of important things to try in the next tests.”

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 7th
“Conditions were really tough today, with wind and rain off-and-on at different parts of the track. My start actually wasn’t amazing, but I think everybody else got away worse than I did. I was in a good position, but I really had no grip at the rear from the very beginning, and although I tried as hard as I could, I couldn’t defend much when guys started coming past. Eventually I blistered the rear tyre and was just trying to make it to the finish, and then when it started to rain harder, it felt really slick. I just about lost it, and when I saw Bautista go down, I decided to come in and change bikes rather than risk doing the same. It’s another seventh place, but I was closer to the front than I’ve been in most races. I felt good apart from a few places, like Turn 6, and the bike was fast. We’ll try to base our future work on those positives.”

Vittoriano Guareschi (Team Manager)
“Just like at the Japanese Grand Prix, there are also positives to consider here in Australia, despite the fact that it was a challenging weekend. Vale struggled in the practice sessions, but he was fast in this morning’s warm-up. He also found a good rhythm in the race and had climbed as high as fifth place when he fell. Nicky had his best qualifying session of the season, he started the race well and we saw him have some good battles in the early laps. We expected something more here in Australia, but we’re also aware that we’re working on a number of different fronts in these races, gathering information that will be useful in the future.”

Nicky Hayden found himself at the other end of the grid and finished in 6th position – his best qualifying result of the year.

Both Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden discuss Phillip Island qualifying below:

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 6th (1’30.792)
“This was my first time on the second row this year, and for a while today, I thought I could do even better. It’s good, but we’re not celebrating sixth place since we expect a lot when we come to Phillip Island. The main thing for tomorrow will be to figure out how to get the tyres to last over race distance, and I’m having to use some strange lines to miss all the bumps. I lost a bit of time when one front tyre didn’t come in, but other than that, I’ve got no excuses. I had good, clear laps, and I went about as fast as I could. Tomorrow will be my 150th Grand Prix in the premier class, and I’m proud to be here that long and still be on a factory team. With this grid position, it would be nice to get our best dry result tomorrow. It will be very tough because a lot of guys are going quick, but we’ll try.”

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 13th (1’31.980)
“Before we arrived here, we expected to do much better than this, considering that Phillip Island is a track where Ducati and I have always done well. Instead, I again had trouble riding today, and I was very slow. It’s really a shame, and I’m very sorry. Evidently we haven’t managed to solve the problems we’ve had since the first session here. We’ll try to make some small changes in tomorrow’s warm-up, but although we’ll certainly try to do better than this, I’m expecting a very challenging race.”

Both Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden already had a tough benchmark to live up to as they arrived at Phillip Island – for the last 4 years, Casey Stoner has ridden the 800cc Ducati Desmosedici to victory at the track.

Both riders struggled with grip in both practice sessions, but Nicky Hayden at least managed to break into the top 10 for the second pratice session.

Rossi is riding with a fractured finger, an injury that he picked up after his crash in Japan, and the Italian complained that the pain and discomfort was more than he was expecting – he is seeking stronger painkillers for tomorrow’s qualifying session.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 9th (1:31.662)
“As far as weather is concerned, this is probably the nicest day I can remember at Phillip Island in a long time, but we always hope for better results here than what we had today. The track’s definitely got a bit bumpier, which is obviously the same for everybody, so it’s not an excuse. The bike is harsh over the bumps, so in places I have to use a slower line in order to miss them. We tried to do some laps on hard tyres this afternoon, but we need to find more grip, both in order to be faster and to get better tyre life. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ll do our best tomorrow.”

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 13th (1:32.014)
“Today wasn’t easy, especially since we had hoped to be better immediately, like at Motegi two weeks ago, as this track is normally good for the Ducati. We started with the same setup, with just a small adjustment to the fork spring, but the feeling wasn’t the same. I wasn’t able to ride well today, in part due to the pain in my left pinky finger, which bothered me more than I expected, but especially because of the feeling with the bike. I’m not able to brake well or enter corners well. Tomorrow we’ll try stronger painkillers for my hand, and from a technical point of view, we’ll look for a different solution to improve the front and to do better than thirteenth place. We won’t change the setup completely. We’ll probably move the position of the front wheel, but we’re just talking about small changes.”

Despite a positive weekend of improvement on the Ducati during Free Practice and Qualifying, Valentino Rossi’s weekend ended early and without points when he crashed out of the race on the second corner of the first lap.

Rossi made contact with Jorge Lorenzo going into turn 2, and was then nudged into Ben Spies. The contact with Spies caused Rossi’s brake lever to get knocked and the crash followed.

Both Rossi and Hayden discuss the Japanese MotoGP at Motegi below:

Nicky Hayden:
“Our bike was pretty good this weekend. Even though I was only eighth fastest this morning, I was pretty consistent, and this weekend is really the first time I’ve been kind of competitive here. On the start, everybody flinched, and I almost got baited into jumping. Then I got touched by Vale on the exit of Turn 1 and went off the track and lost a lot of time. We were all racing, and it was normal for the first lap. I got into a pretty good rhythm, and when Casey came past me, I wanted to try to follow him past Bautista, but I came in way too hot and went off the track. It’s a shame, because with everybody making mistakes, I had a chance to get us a good result. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry to Ducati and everybody, because they worked so hard. Phillip Island is a track I like, so hopefully there we can do a decent race there.”

Valentino Rossi:
“It’s really a shame to be out of the race after two corners, especially after the progress that we made this weekend, and with the knowledge that we’d worked on the bike well. I was fourth in the morning warm-up, and it would have been possible to have a pace in the high 1:46 range. I also think our choice of tyres for the race—hard on the back and soft on the front—was correct. When you also consider the troubles that Stoner, Simoncelli and Dovizioso had, we could have fought for the podium, which would have been really nice for us. We were a little unlucky. Unfortunately, Lorenzo went onto the grass slightly in Turn 1, and in the next turn he moved suddenly to get his trajectory right. He didn’t see me because I was slightly behind. When he touched me, it pushed me into Spies, who touched my front brake lever. It was normal racing contact, but I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyway, we did a good job this weekend, and we were more competitive than usual. It’s a challenging time for us, but we hope we’re on the right path.”

Rossi now has two identical bikes to race with for the rest of the season – using the word ‘race’ may be a little generous, Rossi and Ducati will be treating the rest of the season as an extended testing session as they work on short term, and long term development solutions.

Nicky Hayden had a mixed race and looked strong in the first half of the race, putting some strong moves on Bautista, but rear grip issues caused him to fade in the latter stages and he slipped to a 7th place finish.

Both factory Ducati riders discuss the Aragon MotoGP below:

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 7th
“I had a good start and was decent at the very beginning. We knew tyre wear was going to be an issue, and we had a drop in performance after the first couple of laps. It lost grip, and I also wasn’t able to load the bike well for turning. I was okay in parts of the track, but compared to the fast guys, I was losing time in the last corner. I hoped to hang onto the second group for a while, but it just wasn’t possible. I’d like to have fought with Bautista on the last lap because he was on our pace, but Barbera and I were going back and forth, which hurt both of us and let him escape. It’s unfortunate, because coming here we hoped that we could put up a better fight. Still, this is the first race I’ve finished normally with the GP11.1, since at Indy I reentered just to get points. Hopefully that will help us to get some data and be better off in the future.”

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 10th
“It was definitely a difficult race, even if objectively speaking, we could have done a little better than we did. We used the setup from yesterday morning, with which I had done some good laps with a very used tyre. Unfortunately, in the race the rear tyre was sliding much more than it did in practice. It was almost used up just when I was catching Nicky and his group. That said, we’re still not where we should be. We’re working on several fronts, with short-term solutions that haven’t been conclusive, and others that are longer-term and that I still hope can bring more substantial improvements. We’ll see what they think at the factory. For now, we’re still pretty far, and given that time is our biggest enemy, we’ll continue also working on development during the races.”

Vittoriano Guareschi (Team Manager)
“This race was very difficult for us, but it was also important because we began a project that, while it caused a penalty for Valentino, is also one of the first steps in the direction of the Desmosedici’s development. We know that it’s not easy for a rider to knowingly sacrifice any chance of having a better performance, and this gives us enormous motivation to try to speed up our work as much as possible. Nicky and his team are also trying extremely hard to gather as much information as possible on his GP11.1 which, despite not having the updated front chassis part like Valentino’s, is still a new bike with a lot of margin for improvement with regards to its setup.”

Misano is definitely not Nicky Hayden’s track – Hayden fell while exiting Turn 15 on the third lap and is yet to complete a race there.

Valentino Rossi had a better time in front of his home fans, and changes that were made in the morning warm-up meant Rossi could maintain a more consistent race pace and fans were treated to watching Rossi scrap for a while with Spies, Dovizioso, and Simoncelli. before cruising across the line in 7th place.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 7th
“I’m pretty happy because we didn’t expect to do this well. I didn’t think I’d be able to stay with the second group, which is our goal at the moment, and instead we managed it for half the race. We still weren’t able to attack like we’d like to, but anyway, we were right there. I started really well from the fourth row, and I was a little crazy through the first three corners because I had to push even though there were some raindrops. It was nice after that. I stayed with ‘Sic’ and ‘Dovi’ for a little while and also battled with Spies, and we maintained a good pace. This morning we made a good change on the front, and if we’d done that yesterday I probably could have started closer to the front. It ended up being one of my best races of the year, although of course we have to remember that we’re only talking about seventh place. Still, it was a nice race in front of a good crowd. We’re fairly satisfied as we wait to take the necessary steps forward.”

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) DNF
“It was obviously a disappointing race. The team did a good job, as they made a couple of changes overnight, and this morning I was able to go a couple tenths faster than in qualifying, with a good rhythm. I thought we had a better chance for the race. It was raining a little bit at first, which is normally good for our bike. I got a decent start, felt good, and was going to take a few chances to try to get up as far as I could. Then I lost the front on the exit of Turn 15 and—bam!—I was down. We looked at the data, and I’m not really sure why I crashed. We were tip-toeing because of the rain, so maybe the left side of the tyre wasn’t quite up to temperature, although it was still rider error. This track has been the worst one on the calendar for me. I certainly could use some good luck, and maybe we’ll get it at Aragon.”

Vittoriano Guareschi (Team Manager)
“I think today presents some positive aspects that have to be considered. We made a change to Valentino’s bike that allowed him to maintain a better rhythm in the race than he had managed in practice, and he was able to fight: he had a really good start and then rode fast for as long as he could. Of course I’m sorry for Nicky’s crash, because he really had a nice warm-up this morning, and he also got a good launch off the start and passed a lot of riders. We’re working really hard, and next week we’ll be back on the track at Mugello for three days of testing.

Valentino Rossi wore a custom helmet design at Misano that reflected his current mood on how his season has been going. The helmet featured a speech bubble full of swear words and curses coming from under his visor.

However, by the end of a tough qualifying session at Misano, Rossi sounded more positive about the progress that he made throughtout the day, even considering his 11th place qualifying position. Rossi and the team stated that they are comfortable that they have a setting that will give them a more consistent race pace, and coupled with Rossi’s home fans urging him on, tomorrow should be interesting.

Nicky Hayden had a poor session and qualified in 15th place, but Hayden also feels that his final position does not reflect his potential race pace.

Both Ducati riders give their thoughts on Misano qualifying below:

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 11th (1:34.676)
“Today went a bit better. We changed the setup a little compared to yesterday, and then we stuck with that, making small steps. There were no longer parts of the track where I lost a lot of time compared to the others, as we reached a steady level around the entire lap, although of course we’re still not as fast as we’d like to be. I was a little unfortunate on what would have been my fast lap, because after three good sectors, I came upon De Puniet going slow in the final hairpin before the last two left-handers, and there alone I lost half a second. Otherwise I could have done a 1:34.0 and started from the third row, which is what we had set out to do. Anyway, I’m not too bad in terms of pace, so we’ll see what we can do in the race tomorrow.”

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 15th (1:34.955)
“This morning wasn’t bad to start with. I had used tyres from yesterday and was able to find a rhythm and do some decent laps. As has been the case lately though, things got worse in the afternoon. I was pushing the front, and I had a lot of front chatter, even with the soft tyres. It’s tough for Ducati here at their home, with the team trying hard and all the fans wanting to see us do something. I’ve got to believe the bike is better than fifteenth, so I’ve got to do a better job myself. It’s not the day we hoped for, and we’ll try to do better in the race tomorrow.”

Valentino Rossi had the strangest race of all, and part-way through he looked as if he was stopping to retire, but then rejoined the action at the back of the grid before fighting for a 10th place finish.

Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden explains their issues below.

Valentino Rossi – 10th
“A number of things happened this weekend that contributed to making this a particularly difficult race: the crash yesterday in qualifying, which robbed some confidence and was part of the reason we had to start so far back on the grid, and today there was a problem with the gearbox. The bike stuck in neutral six or seven times, and the first two caused me to go straight and lose time. I found myself in last place, but I decided to do what I could to at least get some points. In this morning’s warm-up, we had made a small change that let us improve the pace a little, but the race was really difficult. We know that we have to work hard. Ducati is doing that, and my team and I are as well, because we must try to not let up and to get the bike ready while we wait for technical updates.”

Nicky Hayden – 14th (+2 laps)
“It was a really tough day. We thought the soft front tyre could be a good option for the race, but unfortunately it only worked for seven or eight laps. Then I began to steadily lose ground until it even began shaking on the straightaways, and I had to come in. Since you’ve got to finish to get points, I went back out, and it was actually worth getting two points. I got a good start and was up front the first few laps, and that was the first time I put up a real fight in the dry all season. My bike felt fast in a straight line, and with this new gearbox, I could get out of that last corner and keep guys in the draft early on. We’re on our first race with this bike, and maybe we don’t know enough about what it needs. Sorry to all my U.S. fans and the Ducati fans here who came to support us, but we’ll try again next week.”

Both riders give their thoughts and expectations on Indianapolis below:

VALENTINO ROSSI:
“Indy is a difficult circuit, and although it’s not exactly one of my favorites, we’ll see how we perform there with the Ducati. They resurfaced part of the track, so the conditions should certainly be better from that point of view. We made a little progress with the GP11.1’s setup during the Brno GP, and we’ll see if we can confirm them at this next race. Anyway, racing in America is always nice for me, as I enjoy both the atmosphere and the fans, who are always very passionate. On the other hand, I’m very sorry that we’ll be missing someone who undoubtedly followed our sport, though not at the track: Claudio Castiglioni was very passionate and he did a lot for the motorcycle world, and for me in particular when he helped me get started in racing in Sport Production 125 when I was 14.”

NICKY HAYDEN:
“We’re going to Indy, and we’ll see what the new track surface does. I’ve ridden it, and the bumps are definitely gone, although I’d say it will take some time on Friday to clean it up and get some rubber down. I’m looking forward to this event. I always enjoy racing at home in front of friends and family, but I need to go there and focus on my job. I want to try to do a good result while also having fun and enjoying the weekend. The team has worked really hard to get me the opportunity to ride this new bike, and now it’s up to me to try and pay them back with a good result.”

VITTORIANO GUARESCHI:
“We come to Indy after a test day at Brno, where the team and both riders did a lot of work: Valentino dedicated all of his time to trying many different adjustments to the GP11.1’s setup, which was a really tough assignment that Valentino approached with incredible commitment. Nicky also did a lot of laps, finding good enough harmony with the GP11.1 that both riders will use it at Indy. This is an important decision that will accelerate our development work. It’s Nicky’s home race, and that always provides extra motivation. In fact, he earned his first podium with Ducati there in 2009. He was also really strong last year, though his race was unfortunately affected when he lost a knee slide in the early laps.”