Thursday, 02 February 2012 13:44 by Matteo Aglio

Twelve months have passed since Valentino Rossi first realized his Ducati marriage wouldn't be enjoying a very long honeymoon.  A season's worth of disappointing results and hard work ensued, and now the light has finally begun to appear at the end of the tunnel.

At the conclusion of the three day Sepang test session, the Doctor had few doubts about the overall result:"The outcome was most certainly positive.  I would have signed on for today's lap time before leaving, or even something 3 or 4 tenths slower - Valentino revealed -This was a crucial test for us because it was the new bike's debut." The lap in question, a 2’00.824, was good enough to make him fifth fastest, "only the two factory Hondas and Yamahas were ahead of us."

The gap to Stoner was still an abundant 1"217, and Rossi didn't hide from that fact: "but Lorenzo is closer, just 6 tenths away, and what's most important is that the gap remained level for all three days. Jorge improved, and we improved along with him.  The bike always reacted well to our adjustments, whereas just a few months ago we hit limits that kept us from moving forward.  We know there is still work to be done, but now we know specifically what we need, and I think they already have some ideas back at the Ducati factory.  Some parts are already prepared, and others will be fabricated based on the feedback from this test.  I'm not sure if everything will be ready by the end of the month, though."

There is an air of optimism inside the Ducati garage, and Rossi is clearly feeling it as well: "It's more enjoyable to work in an atmosphere like this, but especially after having achieved certain results.  It seems like a miracle, but we need to keep our feet on the ground. When we come back here in another three weeks, I expect everyone to be faster.  We have two or three problems to resolve, especially in the early phases of acceleration: the bike is still too difficult to control.  But if we can get a handle on this, we will cut many tenths from our lap times."

So it's no longer feels like mission impossible, and they don't have to hope for a rabbit to be pulled from the hat: "The base package is good, and the lap times are interesting.  We know what to work on, and when we make a change it affects the bike in the way we expect.  There is a lot more to be done, but I'm happy; each day on the GP12 felt better than the previous one." And Ducati fans certain hope that this trend continues over the remaining six test days before the 2012 season kicks off.