Photo: motogp.com
It looks like the assault Ducati has been preparing for quite some time now is finally starting. The Borgo Panigale team will bring a lot of new stuff for the kick-off round of 2014’s second half of the championship, so it looks like the US round at Indianapolis this weekend will be the first test for the upcoming red bikes.
Initially, Gigi Dall’Igna said that Ducati will be testing a new, revised fairing for their GP14 Desmosedici at Brno, in the Czech Republic rounds, but it looks like the work on the new hull was completed earlier, or at least it has reached a point where it can be tested under racing conditions. The all-new GP15 Ducati prototype is said to have major differences over the actual machine, and the whole aerodynamic approach is about to be changed, as well.
However, the new fairing is only one of the new things which Ducati will have on the Indy grid. A new engine will also be tested, the revised one tested by Andrea Iannone last month in Mugello, and which turned out to be exceedingly fast, with the telemetry at the Italian track indicating that Iannone might have in fact gone past the official 359 km/h (223 mph) data.
With the long straight of the Brickyard measuring 872 m (0.542 miles), the amazing top speed of the Ducati engine could allow the riders to make up for the time they lose through the turns, when the GP14 is notoriously difficult to steer and therefore, slower. Whether this will be a solution, we’ll find out on Sunday.
Still a LCR Honda rider until the Valencia round, 24-year-old German Stefan Bradl will ride in NGM Forward Racing’s livery as of next year. After Honda expressed their discontent with the (lack of) results in the three years Bradl had spent with the satellite team, LCR’s Lucio Cecchinello was kind of forced to find a replacement. Cal Crutchlow was the man of the moment, by the way.
Even though money finally came from the new sponsor, English finance group CWM, LCR’s new offer for Bradl was late, as the German was already in advanced discussions with Giovanni Cuzari’ s NGM Forward Racing, who was already contemplating Colin Edwards’ announced retirement and Aleix Espargaro’s departure at Suzuki.
Cuzari hopes that Bradl’s MotoGP experience aboard the satellite Honda will allow Bradl to easily adapt to the Yamaha package: “It’s with great pleasure that we welcome Stefan Bradl to our team. We believe that Stefan is a strong rider, that our package will suit his riding style very well and we look forward to start this new cooperation. Moreover, Germany represents an important market and it’s important to have a strong German rider in our line up.”
However, the new fairing is only one of the new things which Ducati will have on the Indy grid. A new engine will also be tested, the revised one tested by Andrea Iannone last month in Mugello, and which turned out to be exceedingly fast, with the telemetry at the Italian track indicating that Iannone might have in fact gone past the official 359 km/h (223 mph) data.
With the long straight of the Brickyard measuring 872 m (0.542 miles), the amazing top speed of the Ducati engine could allow the riders to make up for the time they lose through the turns, when the GP14 is notoriously difficult to steer and therefore, slower. Whether this will be a solution, we’ll find out on Sunday.
Still a LCR Honda rider until the Valencia round, 24-year-old German Stefan Bradl will ride in NGM Forward Racing’s livery as of next year. After Honda expressed their discontent with the (lack of) results in the three years Bradl had spent with the satellite team, LCR’s Lucio Cecchinello was kind of forced to find a replacement. Cal Crutchlow was the man of the moment, by the way.
Even though money finally came from the new sponsor, English finance group CWM, LCR’s new offer for Bradl was late, as the German was already in advanced discussions with Giovanni Cuzari’ s NGM Forward Racing, who was already contemplating Colin Edwards’ announced retirement and Aleix Espargaro’s departure at Suzuki.
Cuzari hopes that Bradl’s MotoGP experience aboard the satellite Honda will allow Bradl to easily adapt to the Yamaha package: “It’s with great pleasure that we welcome Stefan Bradl to our team. We believe that Stefan is a strong rider, that our package will suit his riding style very well and we look forward to start this new cooperation. Moreover, Germany represents an important market and it’s important to have a strong German rider in our line up.”
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