Rossi and Hayden On Track?

Hot off a spectacular second-place finish in the pouring rain at Le Mans, Valentino Rossi, his factory Ducati MotoGP teammate Nicky Hayden and their respective teams spent Wednesday and Thursday of this week testing in dry conditions at the Mugello circuit in Italy.

Combined, the pair ran a total of 264 laps, evaluating, according to Ducati, “different configurations of the V-Four engine, electronics and chassis,” including a new aluminum swingarm. No lap times were released. After the test, Hayden flew from Italy to Dubai for a Ducati event.

Test rider Franco Battaini and the Ducati development team, led by Ducati Corse General Director Filippo Preziosi, also took part in the test.

“I’d say it was a very useful test,” said Preziosi, “because we were able to gather interesting information on the different areas of the bike for which we had planned a robust test program. Now, we want to go to Barcelona and Aragon to test the validity of the solutions we’ve found to understand if we’ve effectively taken a small step in the right direction.”

Round 5 of the world championship takes place at Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain, on June 3.