Sete Gibernau, testing once again for Ducati at Mugello again this week, may be the most likely candidate to replace
Marco Melandri - should the struggling Italian relinquish his factory
MotoGP seat - but test rider Niccolo Canepa underlined that he shouldn't be forgotten by leading both days of the Indianapolis MotoGP test.
Seven riders, representing all five MotoGP manufacturers, were present at Indianapolis this week to conduct a two day tyre test ahead of the inaugural
Red Bull Indianapolis GP on September 12-14.
Permanent MotoGP riders were not allowed to attend, so Canepa took to the track alongside Ben Spies (Suzuki), Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki), Erwan Nigon (Honda), William Costes (Yamaha), Wataru Yoshikawa (Yamaha) and, briefly, Nobuatsu Aoki (Suzuki).
Of the seven, only Spies has ridden in a 2008 MotoGP - when he replaced the injured
Loris Capirossi at
Donington Park. Spies, the reigning double AMA Superbike champion, will also make two further MotoGP appearances this season - at Laguna Seca and Indianapolis itself - and Canepa admitted he was happy to have outpaced the highly-rated American during the opening day.
But Spies, who qualified eighth (wet) and finished 14th (dry) at Donington Park, had been just 0.05secs slower than the Italian - then led much of the second day of testing. Spies was still on top of the timesheets when he packed up, but Canepa later edged 0.0843secs under the Texan's best.
The relative competiveness of the Ducati Desmosedici and Suzuki GSV-R is open for debate -
Casey Stoner has won three races with the Ducati, but the other three riders have struggled to break the top ten, while Suzuki's best finish this year is fifth - but Canepa certainly didn't do his growing reputation any harm by leading both days at Indianapolis.
