Barbera leaves Sepang as fastest Ducati rider
During the final day in Sepang the main point was the heat which got worse as the day progressed, because of this the best track conditions were early in the session. At that time most riders posted their fastest laptimes. Casey Stoner was again the fastest rider today, we will see what happens in two weeks at Qatar, a circuit which favours the Ducatis a bit more.
MAPFRE Aspar rider Hector Barbera said yesterday that leaving Sepang with a laptime of a low 2’01 would have him overjoyed. And he achieved this goal. Fairly early this morning he got out on track immediately with the best combination of chassis and electronics the team found so far. In the fifth lap he posted his personal best time (2.01.346) and eight laps later he suffered a bump on the shoulder when he opened the throttle which caused him to stop. He returned to the track in the last half hour of the session and finally completed 21 laps. The Spaniard did not want to put too much force his shoulder, but fortunately it’s nothing serious and should be alright after a few days of rest. Hector left Sepang very satisfied with his work and he improved his laptime by 1.3 seconds from the first day. Yesterday and today he’s also been the fastest Ducati rider and he is now looking forward to final test at Qatar in two weeks.
Héctor Barbera 2.01.346 (21 laps): “After all the tests so far in Sepang, today I went on track with the best configuration we have, to try to push hard and get a good laptime. I pushed hard from the beginning and the in fifth lap I did my fastest time. I did a first run of eight laps quite quickly. Then we tried out a small modification to see how the bike responded with used tires. And after thirteen laps I stopped because I’ve hurt my arm. When I opened the throttle the bike broke out. Then in trying to withstand it the force of it strained my shoulder. So I preferred to go to the Clinica Mobile for treatment and not force it, because today was the last day. The doctor told me that it is not serious, with some days of rest I’ll be fine. The rest of the day I paused and got back out on track only for the last half hour.
This test has been very positive, because we improved day by day. I finished as the fastest Ducati rider which is good and motivates me to continue working in the same direction. In any case, we are 1.6 seconds behind the fastest guys, so we can not lose focus, we must continue to improve.”
Source: Mapfre Aspar Team
