The second day of three-day test session at Portimao was hampered by bad weather. Althea Racing riders Shane Byrne and Carlos Checa faced rain and a wet track this morning for practice. Due to the heavy rain Shakey decided, together with his technicians, not to enter the circuit in the morning session. They preferred to spend more time working on a dry setting. Checa finished thirteen laps with a best lap time of 1,55,922.

Better conditions and occasional sunshine for the afternoon session, but the track was still wet, which inevitably prevented the riders from lapping at very high speeds. Shakey and Carlos continued to test various suspension settings with positive results. Checa finished twenty one laps registering the tenth fastest time of the day. Byrne finished only nine laps ending his test in seventeenth place. Both riders feel that they are making good progress and would like to see an improvement in their performance, hoping for a drier day on track tomorrow.

Carlos Checa :”I’m pretty happy about today’s tests. This morning I ride only for thirteen laps because of the bad weather conditions but I was able to learn something more about my bike because it was my first time with my Ducati 1198 on a wet track. The track was very wet this morning while the afternoon was more productive. The weather hasn’t helped us but I worked on the bike’s setting and on the rear brake. Of course I chose not to take risks just to record the fastest time. We’ll see if the track dries out a bit in time for tomorrow’s last two sessions to be able to make further progress”.

Shane Byrne :”We need some more dry track time. This is the most important thing for us. I already know the bike quite well on a wet track and so I didn’t need to make so many laps in the wet. All I had to do was try some different electronic setting and I’m happy because we found very soon the best one. For tomorrow I hope to be able to dry on a dry track to continue to develop my Ducati and to improve my yesterday best lap time”.

Genesio Bevilacqua – Team General Manager :”Today due to the bad weather conditions, our technicians decide to work on the bike settings for the wet track and to test some new component. Of course our riders preferred not to risk on the wet and for tomorrow I really hope to be able to test again on a dry track”.