Ducati: British circuits have a soul.

The Ducati Marlboro Team comes to Donington this weekend fresh from two events that underline the Desmosedici's awesome performance - Loris Capirossi scored the bike's historic first victory at Catalunya a month ago and its second pole position at Assen - the 'Cathedral' of motorcycle racing - a fortnight back.

Considering that the Desmosedici is still so new, it's perhaps surprising that the bike isn't being upgraded with new parts at every race. Indeed it's factory policy to leave bikes as unchanged as possible from one race to the next, because this allows riders to gain an intimate knowledge of how their machines behave on the limit, which in turn gives them greater confidence to push to the limit.

"More confidence is better than more new parts," stated team director Livio Suppo. "And at this stage we want our riders to focus on set-up for each race, rather than testing new parts. But maybe we can try some different things when we test at Brno on the Wednesday and Thursday after Donington."

Donington's overriding characteristic is its two contrasting sections - one fast and flowing, the other slow and tight. The Ducati Marlboro Team will therefore be working hard to give its riders very balanced machinery.

"I think it's an interesting track," said technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. "Maybe it doesn't have a long straight, but otherwise it's got a little of everything - heavy braking, fast corners and tight hairpins. I like British racetracks like Donington and Brands Hatch because they have some soul. There's always a few corners that are interesting, that you remember, like Craner (curves - pictured), which is a big challenge for riders and engineers.

"You need to make some real set-up compromises," he continued. "The track is very hard on brakes, so maybe we'll run bigger brake discs there. You also have to run a stiffer front-end, so the forks don't bottom out during braking, which means working with springs, preload and hydraulic damping settings."

Capirossi and Bayliss have a choice of three different diameter Brembo front brake discs - 290mm, 305mm and 320mm - depending on circuit characteristics. At Assen, where there's little heavy braking, Capirossi preferred the 290mm discs while Bayliss liked the 305mm rotors. At Donington they may both use 320mm brakes.

"Just like Assen, we've had plenty of Superbike experience at Donington, but all this gives us is an idea of what to expect. At Assen we knew we'd have to work on manoeuvrability through the high-speed direction changes, at Donington we know we'll have to focus on braking performance," revealed Cecchinelli.

First qualifying for the British Grand Prix takes place this Friday.