Wednesday Mar 29 2006
Testing - Valencia
LANZI MOVES UP TO THIRD BEHIND XAUS TO MAKE IT A DUCATI 1-2-3

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox Team) smashed the unofficial Superbike lap record at Valencia today to complete his total domination of the three-day FGSport official test. The Australian's time of 1m33.758s, set on qualifying tyres in the morning, was almost one second quicker than the rest of the 28-strong field of riders and was six-tenths of a second under the time he set during February testing at the same circuit. Troy's performance on race tyres was also impressive, his time of 1m34.60s a fraction under 2003 Ducati champion Neil Hodgson's mark.



"When I woke up this morning and saw that the conditions were good, I knew I could do some quick times" declared Bayliss, "and I immediately did a 34.7 on my first exit on race tyres. We tried a few more things this morning and then I put on a Q-tyre to set the time. My first long-run in the afternoon was not as good as we expected, but we made a few changes to the front and rear and did a great full-race simulation. My last lap was one-tenth of a second slower than my best lap so we did everything we set out to do. I've been wanting to do a lap in the 33s here for some time and I'm feeling great about it. Ruben also looked good today, it feels really strange to have my former team-mate and my current team-mate behind me!".

Ducati Xerox team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi made a further step forward today, the Italian recording third-quickest time behind Ruben Xaus on the F05 version of the Ducati 999.

"We have improved a lot over the last three days and the results are clear to see because I set third quickest time so I am pleased with my performance" commented Lanzi. "This afternoon in the long-run I wanted to lap in the same times as the front-runners but I struggled a bit, maybe because it was so warm out there. We have changed my 999 a lot in these tests, but now I believe we are going in the right direction. It's always a pleasure to be ahead of guys like Corser and Haga in the standings, but I can't say the same about Ruben who is using my bike from last year!"

World Superbike now heads to the Santamonica circuit in Misano Adriatico, Italy for a further two days of testing on April 12-13 before the championship resumes on April 23 with the Spanish Round at Valencia.

OVERALL TIMES:
1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m33.758s
2. Xaus (Ducati) 1m34.659s
3. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m34.848s
4. Corser (Suzuki) 1m34.933s
5. Martin (Petronas) 1m35.178s
6. Haga (Yamaha) 1m35.295s
7. Nieto (Kawasaki) 1m35.377s
8. Pitt (Yamaha) 1m35.423s
9. Fabrizio (Honda) 1m35.437s
10. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m35.538s