News

The newly-announced Ducati Roma team started its preparations for the 2012 Superbike World Championship with three days of testing at the Misano circuit from 29-31 October, with Niccolò Canepa doing the riding duties. The weather conditions were cold but this did not prevent the team run by Andrea Petricca from getting through its testing schedule.

Canepa lapped constantly in around 1 minute 37 seconds, familiarizing himself with the riding position, the ride-by-wire and engine mapping electronics package, as well as working on suspension and brakes. At the end of the test Canepa also did a long-run, getting under the 1'37" mark, a good performance seeing as the young Italian had not ridden a Superbike machine since 2008.

Andrea Petricca declared: "I'm very happy with these three days of testing. The weather didn't help much but luckily the track remained dry and this allowed us to test everything we had planned. The team did a great job and in just a short time managed to adapt itself to the new bike and the new material. Our new electronics technician slotted in well with the rest of the team and Niccolò did everything expected of him, confirming himself to be a young but already experienced rider".

Niccolò Canepa added: "I am satisfied and pleased with what we did in the three days. The electronics package was not new to me because I had already used ride-by-wire on the Ducati Superbike in 2008, and the following year in MotoGP. We clearly have a lot of work to do, but I honestly think we couldn't have begun our preparations for next season in a better way. There's a lot of room for improvement and I hope to be able to do a lot more mileage on the 1198 to arrive at the first rounds of next season in an ideal condition to do well. The atmosphere in the team is excellent and for me this is important to allow me to express myself to the full."