The test marked the debut of Valentino Rossi with Ducati, Casey Stoner with a factory Honda, Cal Crutchlow with Tech 3 Yamaha etc.
The next official MotoGP test will be at Sepang in February.
Ducati has pledged to improve its MotoGP machine after superstar signing Valentino Rossi was left just 15th fastest at the end of his Desmosedici debut at the Valencia MotoGP test.
Rossi's best time was 1.695sec slower than the rider he has replaced at Ducati, Casey Stoner, who was fastest for Honda.
The Italian even came within 0.032sec of being outpaced by MotoGP rookie Karel Abraham, also riding a Ducati.
With Rossi unable to discuss the test due to the terms of his early release from Yamaha, it was left to Ducati Corse general manager Filippo Preziosi to face the press. Preziosi is leaning towards the more user-friendly 'big bang', which Rossi used throughout day two.
“I kind of feel, I don’t know, I feel kinda royalty or something,” he smiled. “It’s a little different. Just with this little conference here.
“There’s a lot of changes. I mean, even starting with the bike, it’s very similar to what I raced last year, but a lot of little subtle changes. And a lot of changes with the crew.” Spies entire crew won’t be with him until the Malaysia tests in February, but this was a good start. “But for the first day I’m happy with it. We, like I said, didn’t do anything too crazy. Stayed comfortable. Got used to some differences with the bike. I’m happy with it. We were pretty quick most of the day and I’m pretty comfortable too.’
Spies finished with the third fastest time, just behind Stoner. The obvious question was how was it better than his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1. The obvious answer was “You say everything, right?” he asked.
“You know, like I said there’s a couple updates, from the visible updates with the bigger seat and stuff that just tries to even some things out and keep things more balanced. You know, honestly, I don’t know. It’s not like I can’t say, but I don’t know exactly. Just got some better grip and better feel with the bike and more stability. Nothing mind-blowing, but kind of in every department better and I’m happy. And like I said, I learned with working with the Ohlins tech better and the new engineer and when my data guy comes the more we can work together I think we make the package we’ve got even better. But, you know, it’s good that starting out the package is already better. But making it just further with the development and that’s what we’re going to try to do tomorrow and start out in Malaysia and keep going.”
Spies went faster than he’d gone in Sunday’s race, when he finished fourth. The difference came in “the initial braking, the turn-in, the more side grip. Just the bike just seems to work a little bit better in every way. I guess that’s being on the factory bike I can say that now being on it, it’s not like you jump on it and you’re going to go faster than Jorge (Lorenzo). It’s not like that. But it’s definitely, the overall package is a little bit better in every way.”
On Wednesday, "We messed with the bike a bit," Spies said. "Changed some settings and went in a positive direction. So another good session working with the new crew again, I'm very happy with it. I read some comments from Jorge about the new engine for next year, he seemed to be happy with the way that was going, so I look forward to seeing that in Malaysia. I'm looking forward to now having a couple of months of then getting back to it!"
Long-time Spies crew chief Tom Houseworth revealed that "we collected the data from yesterday, and following a meeting last night made some setting changes for today which we tested with very positive results. Once we had achieved these we went ahead and tested the Bridgestone tires, testing three options, one of which Ben really liked a lot."