Ducati's Cal Crutchlow says he has taken a big step forward with setup on the 2014 Desmosedici MotoGP contender on day two of testing at Sepang, dropping 1.3s off his laptime from yesterday.
The Briton says he has brushed off all the winter rust and managed a 2'01.396 on his 11th lap of 48 in Malaysia but says he needs to find more rear grip on corner entry in order to get more confident with the new bike.
"Yesterday, I was rusty on the bike and didn't feel comfortable.
We tested the GP14 all day today and went through some settings that we didn't have time for yesterday. We didn't do that many laps yesterday, so today was more positive, we are not that far away from the front by a long way, so that's a big step," said Crutchlow, speaking at Sepang.
"I have got some areas where I have to improve myself but it is difficult when you are trying to improve the bike at the same time. I am a lot happier today. The new bike turns into the corner a lot better, which is something that Ducati have wanted for a long time but I still think that's the area we need to improve on.
"The rear feels very much the same but that can be caused by a lot of things so we are working on electronic and engine settings - not different engines, just stuff to calm the bike down. We need to improve the wheelying and tyre wear but overall we have made big improvements but we are still a long way off.
"It's difficult to analyse at this track as it changes lap to lap, let alone for 30 minutes. In braking and corner entry, we have improved, but that's down to confidence too, I need to get used to riding this bike.
"The first 50 per cent of any braking zone is better than any bike I have ridden but after that is where we have some problems. I would like to keep that, definitely. The new bike feels more compact around the tank area.
"We need to find some rear grip for the bike. We know there is a problem turning into the corner but at the moment we can't change that. Tomorrow we will try to find that and some tyre life."
