Ducati has stated that the upcoming appearance of 2004 World Superbike runner-up Regis Laconi on a Desmosedici
MotoGP machine is purely 'one off'.
Laconi will again ride for the factory Ducati WSBK team - alongside world champion
James Toseland - in 2005, but will join the Bologna based company's factory GP riders,
Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa, in testing at
Jerez this week and then again several days later at Valencia.
The Frenchman, who rode in the 500cc world championship from 1997 to 2000, claiming one race victory, last competed in the premier GP class in 2002, with Aprilia.
Regis will be fulfilling the unfamiliar role of test-rider at Jerez and Valencia, piloting the Ducati Corse development team Desmosedici, more usually seen in the hands of official test rider Vittoriano Guareschi...
"In these last tests of 2004 we will also be helped by Régis Laconi," confirmed Ducati Marlboro team director Livio Suppo. "Régis has considerable experience in GP and for this reason we asked him to give us a hand in these tests.
"Loris and Carlos will focus on tyres, while he will work with the development team engineers on several new components for the GP5, components which have already been tested by Vittoriano Guareschi and which will be tried out by Régis to speed up the development of the Desmosedici before being given to Loris and Carlos.
"The presence of Régis in our development team is purely one-off and Vittoriano will continue to be the official test-rider next year again for the Ducati Marlboro Team," stressed Suppo.
The tests will mark Ducati's first with
Bridgestone tyres.
