Nannelli's 749 out-performs Lanzi in wet test.

Atrocious weather conditions welcomed testers at the Valencia circuit for an unofficial two-day test organized for the 2005 World Supersport and Superbike teams, which started on Monday.

The rain soaked the track and did not let off until the afternoon, however due to low temperatures the track conditions did not improve significantly.

Scuderia Caracchi Ducati were amongst the testers with both his riders, Lorenzo Lanzi on the 999RS Superbike and Gianluca Nannelli on the 749R Supersport in attendance.

Lanzi managed to complete only 40 laps at the rain drenched circuit, with a fastest lap of 1min 52.2secs being set in the afternoon on intermediates, the day was then cut short by a small trip into the gravel trap late in the afternoon.

"The track was very wet and didn't allow us to complete al the working program we've scheduled for today," commented Lanzi. "Actually we could just to look for a good setting for wet conditions if when we'll be here next April to race the Spanish round of the Championship it will rain. I covered a total of about forty laps, with a quickest laptime in 1min 52.2secs using rain tyres.

"Unfortunately when the track dried a little bit and we could use the intermediate tyres I've done a crash without any consequence, but I must stop in the pit when the other riders were able to run. We hope to do something better tomorrow, but the weather forecast give us any hope."

Nannelli also crashed, 749 bringing a very early end to the day. However, he was still able to put in a lap nearly two-seconds quicker than his team-mate Lanzi who was on the more powerful 999.

"What a pity for this crash, we lost a bit of precious testing time," explained Gianluca. "The long developing program scheduled for today has been ruined by the rain.

"The crash has been very silly: we decided to start today's test using the final set up found in the last test sessions here in Valencia, so the rear suspension was quite hard and just I opened a bit the throttle at the first corner, at the end of finish line, the bike slipped and throw me away. However we tested several different setting, suspensions and tyres. My best laptime has been 1min 50.8secs using the intermediate tyres, but we have to test several different solutions."