Crash cuts short Rossi's Mugello MotoGP test schedule
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17/07/2012
Valentino Rossi's MotoGP test schedule at Mugello was cut short today after his GP12 cut out on the way into the Correntaio double-right hander, a fault caused by a glitch in the new engine management strategy he was testing at the Italian track, resulting in a crash for the nine-time world champion.
Valentino Rossi's MotoGP test schedule at Mugello was cut short today after his GP12 cut out on the way into the Correntaio double-right hander, a fault caused by a glitch in the new engine management strategy he was testing at the Italian track, resulting in a crash for the nine-time world champion.
The Doctor had done 23 laps with a best time of 1'48.565, over a second slower than fastest man Jorge Lorenzo but for safety's sake, he called a halt to riding for the rest of the day. The new ECU is part of a package of changes the Italian hopes will continue to turn his season around after his best dry-wether result came on Sunday at the track where be bagged fifth place after mugging team-mate Nicky Hayden late on.
"Unfortunately, we lose a lot of time. We start and try a different engine with some small difference for the future as part of the package to make the bike smoother in acceleration. The first impression was not so bad and also we have some different part for the balance of the bike and position of things," said Rossi, speaking to bikesportnews.com at Mugello.
"I did some lap at the end of this morning but unfortunately I had a problem with the ECU that manage the new strategy for the engine and the bike switch off in Correntaio and I had a small crash. I was lucky but this problem become bigger because we are not able to continue for the afternoon. We decide for safety reason to stop until we understand what happened so we lost the afternoon. I will have to look at this stuff in the next test.
"I did already the laptime of the race with the hard tyre and was already quite good. We already start to work a bit on the bike for to find the right balance but we have this problem. I think for the real step we have to wait for the full package and I hope it will be ready as soon as possible.
"The ECU is the next step in managing in a better way the engine. I have the chance to use in Laguna but with the problem of today I don't know. Anyway, Ducati remain for the next days to make some test and maybe they understand more deeply what's happened. We will decide next week but I don't know - for me maybe it's better wait and try to make the test in a better way before using in the weekend of a race."
