As many of you will know, Ducati will be holding its annual WROOM celebrations tomorrow, including the launch of the brand new Desmosedici and our first look at Nicky being re-joined by his former HRC team mate, Valentino Rossi, in Ducati red!

Hopefully, I’ll have some news and media from the launch up here tomorrow, and stay tuned, as KK-org will be undergoing another facelift sometime in the not-too-distant future!

Click here to watch Nicky’s interview with MotoGP.com after testing.

Despite still feeling the slight after effects of arm surgery from two weeks ago, Nicky Hayden made impressive progress on the Desmosedici GP10 of the Ducati Marlboro team at the Sepang test.

Not entirely happy with how things went on the opening day, Friday was a far more satisfying session for Hayden as he set a time of 2’00.703 – the third fastest of the test as the new engine in his GP10 prototype showed its competitiveness.

“I am obviously really happy because the changes we made yesterday afternoon that enabled me to go a couple of tenths faster despite the heat have proved to work even better today with the track in improved condition,” said Hayden. “After making small steps for the last few test sessions today we have finally taken a big leap forward and I was able to ride fast.”

He added: “The arm wasn’t too bad but it still isn’t as strong as before, which I can feel more than anything in the hard braking, and it was hard work today. Anyway, I am recovering well and now we move on from Sepang feeling really happy.”

Hayden’s team-mate Casey Stoner was second on the timesheet behind Valentino Rossi, as both the Ducati machines came inside the top three times of the test.

Congrats Nicky, we know its only testing, but things are looking great for the start of the season!

Nicky Hayden – 7th fastest 2’02.792 (59 laps)

“Overall the day was positive, sure it went quite fast actually and at the end of the day when we were ready to do some more laps the rain came and cut it a little bit short. It would be nice to have the chance to do some more laps. But overall the bike was feeling quite good. We made a couple of little tweaks that helped us but we struggle a lot for edge chatter. There’s not much testing before the start of the season so we’ve got to move fast: day one is in the bag, we have established a good starting point and we go from here”.

Click here to watch Hayden and Stoner unveil the Desmosedici GP10

There was a packed schedule again on the third day of Wrooom 2010 at Madonna di Campiglio on Wednesday, with Claudio Domenicali coming under the spotlight in a morning press conference. The General Manager of Ducati Motor later joined Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden on the spectacular Patascoss slope to unveil the new Ducati Desmosedici GP10, the Ducati Marlboro Team’s latest weapon in the chase for the MotoGP title, against the dramatic backdrop of the Dolomites – recently added by Unesco to their World Natural Heritage list.

“The main changes to the bike are based on the rule changes, so the major part of the work was done precisely to make it perform better using only six engines for the entire championship,” explained Domenicali. “It’s a very important difference, because we were used to using more-or-less one engine per race, so to switch from 18 engines to six is a very important adjustment. All of the main parts were redesigned – pistons, rods, crankshaft, the basics. It’s an engine with which our main objective was to minimise the loss of power to increase durability.”

Domenicali continued: “The second big news isn’t related to the rules, but to our attempt to make the bike more rideable. This has to do with the firing order. We have a motor that, since the switch to 800cc, utilised a screamer set-up. This has permitted us to have maximum power, which was very important and was probably fundamental with the results that we’ve had in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but at a certain point, we began to wonder whether it could be worthwhile to re-test a way that we’d already followed in the past. The last 1000cc motors that we made in 2005 and 2006 used a big-bang firing order, and this gave us important rideability. We re-tested that way, first trying it on the dyno, then with Vittoriano Guareschi in his previous role as test rider and then with Nicky and Casey.”

“We think we have a bike for 2010 with better traction, and that therefore makes it easier for us to find a good set-up. Another part of the work was dedicated to the chassis. In the pursuit of ease of use, we’ve worked to eliminate the bike’s squatting, which is why the entire rear portion of the bike was redesigned. This bike has a rear structure that carries the rider – which we call the seat support – and that also supports the swingarm. That part was redesigned to have six mounting points instead of four; this makes the bike more rigid in a way and it guarantees better rideability and improved rigidity. With respect to the bike we introduced last year, this bike is also aesthetically different because of the redesigned fairing but we already saw that at Estoril.”

Domenicali then discussed the recent changes to Ducati Marlboro Team management.

“2009 was a year – even from a sporting perspective – that was difficult and complicated. Nicky found things harder than he or we expected but he gave us a great lesson because he never lost his good attitude, he always had a spirit of great optimism and positivity. We were able to put at his disposal a bike that permitted him to obtain results that were in line with his talent. He gave us a podium at Indianapolis and he kept improving the whole season.”

“Casey was very fast from the start, as he always is, and had great potential. Of course what happened at mid-season affected the season, but I believe that everyone – from Casey to us – has described what happened and clarified it so it seems useless for me to continue to give details. The important thing, in my opinion, is that today we have Casey with us, probably in the best health we’ve ever seen him. We have reason for optimism for both riders.”

“There have also been some changes to the management, with Alessandro Cicognoni and Vitto Guareschi coming in, having shown themselves in the team to have competence and perhaps even bring things that were missing. I believe that this important change leaves the company in a solid situation, also because it’s in some way personalised by an incredible talent as Filippo Preziosi, who is the true engine of all our racing activities, and he remains safe, solid, and dedicated. I believe it’s a change in the continuity, if we can define it that way.”

Domenicali continued to add: “Faith is the key word that Ducati are using in looking ahead to 2010, in a variety of aspects. We have a team that certainly makes us think we can approach the Championship with great hope. Nicky and Casey are two riders who don’t need any type of introduction. We have faith in the company, because it has a solid, stable base in the Bonomi family, and it’s a company that has managed 2009 well: the motorcycle market had a big decline in 2009 – the market declined by over 30 percent, a very heavy, difficult amount. But our company managed very well and we dropped ‘only’ 18 percent. In fact, in 2009, we had the largest share that the company has ever enjoyed historically. So also from the economic point of view, the company knew how to control very carefully its costs and manage 2009 well. For example, we didn’t cut or eliminate any development of future models, something that’s fundamental for the future health of the company.”

“We have faith in the Championship, because I see that Carmelo Ezpeleta (CEO, Dorna Sports) – here with us – has come through a truly difficult moment, with great character. He’s always been present in person, and he’s somebody with whom you can have a relationship and a dialogue, so it’s very important for our company to be present in a Championship run in this manner and Carmelo is thanked personally for this.”

“We have faith in our sponsors, because 2009, as I said, has been very difficult and yet we’ve managed to continue good relationships with them. We have a very important main sponsor in Marlboro – obviously our host at this event – which has confirmed our faith. We have other important partners like Telecom, Generali, Enel, Riello ups, that have been with us and grown with us over a long period of time. We also have faith in the media, who are well represented in this sport.”

Session 1 – 09/11/09
Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Prev. Gap Lead. Gap Laps
1 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team 1:32.660 - - 32
2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1:32.685 +0.025 +0.025 45
3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1:32.826 +0.141 +0.166 37
4 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1:33.088 +0.262 +0.428 31
5 Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Team 1:33.358 +0.270 +0.698 58
6 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:33.496 +0.138 +0.836 50
7 Andrea Dovicioso Repsol Honda Team 1:33.675 +0.179 +1.015 51
8 Mika Kallio Pramac Racing 1:33.726 +0.051 +1.066 52
9 Randy De Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 1:33.775 +0.049 +1.115 61
10 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:33.839 +0.064 +1.179 59
11 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing 1:33.878 +0.039 +1.218 63
12 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:33.929 +0.051 +1.269 35
13 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:34.144 +0.215 +1.484 55
14 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:35.229 +1.085 +2.569 51
15 Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:35.772 +0.543 +3.112 52
16 Hector Barbera Aspar Team 1:36.204 +0.432 +3.544 63
17 Hiroshi Aoyama Scot Racing Team 1:37.964 +1.760 +5.304 40
18 Kenny Noyes Promoracing 1:38.654 +0.690 +5.994 28
19 Ratthapark Wilairot Stop and Go 1:39.815 +1.161 +7.155 17
20 Joan Olive Promoracing 1:41.989 +2.174 +9.329 18

Here’s some updates from the 15.00 and 16.00 mark.