Max Biaggi Takes Ben Spies' Ducati to a Track Day

Max Biaggi today concluded an interesting two-day test on the Pramac Racing Team's Ducati Desmosedici GP13 at the Mugello circuit.  After being away from MotoGP racers for 8 years there was never any chance that Max would set any records.

Max rode the recovering from injury Ben Spies' Ducati GP13 in Andrea Iannone's livery just to make things extra confusing.  The technology changes since his last race on a Camel Honda V5 were the major impediment to quick times.  His fastest lap would have seen him qualify 2nd last for last weekend's MotoGP race.

Despite a few rain showers, which brought an early end to track activity on Thursday and Friday afternoon, the Italian mainly tried to reacquaint himself with the power and the differences in the latest generation of MotoGP bikes, with carbon brakes, tyres and the latest electronic package innovations, without searching for quick lap times.

Max Biaggi

‟I'm back to being a rider for the first time in eight months! It was great because this is a sport that I really love, and after what feels like a long time, it was a great opportunity to ride a MotoGP bike. In the early laps I actually felt that I had really been away for eight years, because a MotoGP bike always has an immediate reaction, and a progression that just doesn't exist in a Superbike. It was also nice because I established a great feeling with the group of people who were assigned to me for this test, just like when I began in Aprilia in 2009. There was a positive feeling between all of us, even though it was just a single test. I'd like to thank first Ducati, and also team Pramac for this opportunity. We were rather unfortunate because out of two days available we more or less only had one due to the rain, but it's better than nothing. We didn't do any damage and we had some good fun!”

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Francesco Guidotti, Pramac Racing Team Manager

‟The first day was spent with Max trying to find out as much as possible about the bike because, as we said, after eight years of not riding a MotoGP bike, it was clear that his memories were from a long time back! Things have changed a lot since then, in particular the tyres, but probably the carbon brakes were what slowed him down the most in his gaining overall confidence in the bike. On the second day, however, we could see an improvement right from the first time he went out; maybe during the night he reflected on what had happened the previous morning, as he hadn't ridden in the afternoon due to the bad weather. I think it was great for him to test with us, and for us it was a great pleasure to have him in the box again!”

**Source:** Edited Pramac Racing Release

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