Ducati unveiled its Desmosedici GP12 race bikes in on online presentation streamed over Facebook. With the machine officially revealed, the pressure now turns to factory riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden who try to rebound in the 2012 MotoGP World Championship after a difficult 2011 season.

The 2012 livery adds a touch of green striping resembling the tricolore version of the Ducati 1199 Panigale S and celebrating the company’s Italian heritage. Unlike the Panigale and its monocoque frame, the Desmosedici GP12 uses a more traditional aluminum twin spar frame.

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The good news for Valentino Rossi is he managed to narrow the gap in lap times between his Ducati Desmosedici and Casey Stoner‘s Honda RC213V. The bad news is other riders improved more than he did.

Rossi completed 57 laps and set a time of 2:01.550 on the third and final day of the second MotoGP test at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit. That puts him just a bit over a second behind the fastest time set by Casey Stoner at 2:00.473. Unfortunately, Rossi’s time put him down at 10th on the day, with seven other riders within a second of Stoner.

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Wet conditions limited Ducati factory riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden to just 18 laps each on the second of three days of MotoGP testing in Malaysia.

Though there is a lot of work to be done for Ducati to be competitive, the heavy rainfall plus Hayden’s still-recovering shoulder limited track time for both riders.

They used what time they did have to work on the Ducati Desmosedici GP12‘s electronics including new traction control software.

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Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden returned to the track to test their Ducati Desmosedici GP12 racebikes mere weeks after both undergoing surgery.

Rossi had a rod removed from his right leg, a remnant from the 2010 crash that broke his tibia. Hayden meanwhile is still recovering from surgery to repair a shoulder injured in a training crash. The injury affected Hayden’s performance at the previous test at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. Hayden says his shoulder is better but still not fully healed.

Returning to Sepang, the Ducati team started earlier than other teams, though a dirty track surface proved to be less than ideal, while the afternoon session was impacted by rain.

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The good news is Ducati managed to trim another second off of Valentino Rossi‘s Day Two test time. The bad news is the Doctor is still over a second behind Casey Stoner.

Of course, considering how much faster Stoner has been compared with everyone else at the MotoGP test in Sepang, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. But it does highlight how much Rossi and Ducati need to improve in order to compete against the 2011 MotoGP Champion.

Rossi led all riders with 42 laps on the third and final day of the three-day Sepang test, recording a time of 2:00.824 on his best lap, fifth fastest overall. That represents a 1.062 second improvement on his Day Two time and a 1.568 second improvement from his time on Day One. Catching up to Stoner would be asking a lot at this point in the Ducati Desmosedici’s development, considering the GP12′s quick turnaround.

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Ducati continues to develop its Desmosedici GP12 MotoGP race bike, setting modest goals while trying to establish a good setup.

Already trailing the other factory teams in development time for its race prototypes, Ducati continued to try to find good base settings for the GP12.

Valentino Rossi achieved the team’s goal of lapping under two minutes and two seconds with a time of 2:01.886 while completing 44 laps on the second day of testing at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit. Continue Reading »

Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden got their first taste of the new Ducati Desmosedici GP12 race bikes at the official MotoGP test at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit.

It’s only the first day of the pre-season test, and Ducati spent much of its time trying to establish a base setup for the rest of the three-day test. Rossi logged 43 laps and his best time was 2:02.392, fifth fastest of the test and 0.735 seconds behind leader Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha. Hayden is still recovering from an injured shoulder but managed to put in 33 laps, with his time of 2:03.151 good enough for tenth fastest of the first day.

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Valentino Rossi has released the first photograph of the factory Ducati Desmosedici GP12 ahead of the MotoGP pre-season test at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit.

The Doctor and Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden will test the GP12 alongside the other MotoGP teams and their race bikes this week to prepare for the upcoming 2012 season.

The GP12 is said to be made of 90% new components, including an aluminum frame, a conventional design for most MotoGP teams but new for Ducati coming off of the ultimately unsuccessful carbon monocoque design.

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It’s no secret that a lot of pro roadracers use motocross as a means of training in their off-season: The general theory is that learning to manage the near-constant loss of traction in the dirt helps riders better manage rear wheel spin on their roadrace bikes.

In this YouTube video we get a somewhat rare glimpse of Valentino Rossi riding something other than a 200-plus hp MotoGP machine.

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Ducati continues to be tight-lipped about the 2012 edition of its Desmosedici MotoGP race bike, but specifications have finally emerged, thanks to satellite rider Karel Abraham and the Cardion AB satellite team. As a satellite entry, Cardion AB and Abraham won’t have the latest updates to the Desmosedici the factory team has access to, but the Czech team’s announcement reveals some of the basis behind the final machine riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will ride.

The Czech team revealed on its official webpage its Ducati Desmosedici GP12 will produce around 250 hp from its 999cc engine. That represents a 15hp bump from the GP11′s 800cc engine. Cardion AB also says the GP12 will have a dry weight of 155kg (341.7 pounds), about 5kg heavier than the Desmosedici GP11 (330.7 pounds). By the team’s calculations, the Desmosedici GP12 will have a 0 to 100 kph time of 2.6 seconds compared to the previous bike’s 2.7 seconds. Cardion AB also says the GP12 will also reach speeds exceeding 360 kph (223.7 mph) while the GP11 maxed out at about 340 kph (211.3 mph).

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