Ducati & Bridgestone continue development

In a one-day test at Mugello
The Ducati Marlboro Team got straight back to work at Mugello today following Loris Capirossi's superb second-place finish in yesterday's thrilling Italian Grand Prix.

After celebrating the stirring rides of Capirossi and team-mate Sete Gibernau last night, the team, its engineers and riders continued development work with the Desmosedici GP6.

Capirossi and Gibernau started testing at noon, after the track had been thoroughly cleaned following yesterday afternoon's massive post-race crowd invasion. They were forced to stop work earlier than expected, when rain began falling at 4pm.

The pair focused primarily on testing Bridgestone tyres, splitting the workload between them, Capirossi focusing on evaluating different compounds while Gibernau concentrated on trying different constructions. The Italian and Spaniard also continued detail work on set-up, the development and evolution of the GP6 a non-stop process.

Capirossi rode 44 laps, with a best of 1m 50.77s, while Gibernau completed 54 laps, with a best of 1m 50.70s.

The Ducati Marlboro Team returns to action next week at the Catalan GP outside Barcelona, where the seventh race of the 17-event MotoGP World Championship will take place on June 18.

Temperatures:

Ambient: 25 degrees

Track: 35 degrees

Mugello - 05/06/06 (unofficial lap times)
1. Marco Melandri - Fortuna Honda - 1m 49.80s (64 laps)
2. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda - 1m 50.01s (73 laps)
3. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda - 1m 50.54s (53 laps)
4. Colin Edwards - Camel Yamaha - 1m 50.
65s (37 laps)
5. Valentino Rossi - Camel Yamaha - 1m 50.67s (24 laps)
6. Makoto Tamada - Konica Minolta Honda - 1m 50.71s (38 laps)
7. Sete Gibernau - Ducati Marlboro - 1m 50.72s (54 laps)
8. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki - 1m 50.73s (48 laps)
9 Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro - 1m 50.73s (44 laps)
10. Kenny Roberts Jr - Team Roberts - 1m 50.80s (45 laps)
11. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki - 1m 50.90s (45 laps)
12. Shinya Nakano - Kawasaki Racing - 1m 51.43s (54 laps)
13.Toni Elias - Fortuna Honda - 1m 51.69s (52 laps)
14. Alex Hofmann - Pramac d'Antin - 1m 53.4s (34 laps)
15. José Luis Cardoso - Pramac d'Antin - 1m 53.6 (33 laps)