Ducati MotoGP: Smoke and mirrors

There's often more lurking within a seemingly innocuous press release than first meets the eye.

The latest communication from Ducati's MotoGP spin doctor would, at first, lend you to believe that the team are buoyed with steely optimism and are hopeful that their hard work ethic and diligence will get them to the top of the time sheets in two shakes of a 10 mil' Facom T-bar.

The results from their pre-season testing sessions have so far been pretty glum with both Nicky Hayden and their golden boy Valentino Rossi trailing the rest of the pack by a couple of seconds. Not thousandths, not hundredths, not even tenths. No, whole seconds. This rich vein of comedic currency is probably not lost on outgoing rider Casey Stoner who is currently several months faster than anyone else on his new mount - a Repsol Honda RC212V. Stoner was the only rider who seemed to be able to make the Ducati Desmosedici GP 800 work. Capirossi, Melandri and Hayden failed to match Stoner's dogged consistency and pace. The big question is obvious: is Rossi going to struggle to come to terms with the finicky Desmo's manners, too?

To add to the mystery and intrigue, the team have just completed a private test session at Jerez with their development rider Franco Battaini. Desperately clinging to any available positive, whether imagined or not, Ducati Corse's Director Filippo Preziosi trotted out the following statement after the culmination of the team's recent private Jerez tests:

“Today was the final session of this three-day test in Jerez with the development team. We worked through an intense schedule with Franco (Battaini), completing a series of software tests in close conjunction with the official team in Sepang: based on the feed-back from Valentino and Nicky, we carried the work forward on a parallel course which will allow us to provide concrete solutions for the next test in Qatar. 

"We have also continued to work on the chassis set-up, gathering data which we will return to the factory with on Monday for comparison with that of Sepang. In Malaysia we have not finished in a position inline with our original target  but this was also due to some back luck. After a promising start to the test, Valentino became ill and lost a full day on the track, forcing him to cram all of the remaining work into the last day. Valentino, Nicky and all the guys at the track were working flat out, and we are doing the same back in the factory.  

"We are confident that by going forward with this same level of commitment, and staying focused on our objectives we will realize the potential that we know we have.”

It's this final paragraph that really interests me.

Read it quickly and you might presume that the team are 'confident' merely because the word appears as a positive 'we are confident' so early in the sentence.

Read it again and it actually says something quite different: they're not confident yet but might be if they keep progressing. Maybe.

Could be quite telling, that...

By mark forsyth