Barbera excited to be back in action after long winter

Mapfre Aspar rider Héctor Barberá finished the first day of testing in 2011 simultaneously excited and exhausted. Aware of the workload ahead of them during the three days at Sepang he refused to waste any minute and rode the bike without a break from 10AM to 5PM. His day was scheduled in short runs to assess setup points like chassis, tyres and and suspension. But mostly the electronics which have changed the most in his new bike. His new Ducati is quite different from the 2010 version as far as electronics are concerned and the rider from Dos Aguas did not stop working to find the right way forward. At the end of the day he completed 59 laps with a gap of just over 2 seconds to the fastest laptime.

Hector Barbera 2.03.767 (59 laps): “Today was a day of testing, pure and simple. Every time I went out on track I tested something different. From various chassis positions to the suspension, but mostly we worked more with the electronics, which is totally new. The chassis is quite similar to last year and the feeling was very positive. I had so much fun despite constantly testing things. It is not the same thing to go out for a good laptime or to go out to find a good setup. Today there were many new things to test and we used the day focusing on getting to know all of them to see how we can improve our performance. It is now time to verify, test all the material we have. It a very good day, because it’s been a long time doing nothing and to return to action is exciting. Last night when I went to sleep I noticed those signs of excitement before you get back on the bike. I’m motivated, I’m back to work with a lot of focus, the team is the same as last year and the atmosphere has been fantastic from the first minute. I feel very good.”

Source: Mapfre Aspar Team