Biaggi ends 2009 on a high note

Max Biaggi returned home from last week’s Valencia testing after wrapping up the 2009 season with an exceptional time of 1m33.8s on his Aprilia RSV4. After testing for two days against the main Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha teams, the Italian and his factory team were totally satisfied with the progress that had been made.

“We went much better than we did in the race” declared Biaggi, who completed a total of 127 laps. “This means that the four-cylinder machines have improved a lot, even though the Ducatis, who won both races here in 2009, were not present at these tests.”

At Valencia Max and his team-mate Leon Camier tested the new suspension package that will be fitted to the 2010-spec RSV4 and got through a lot of set-up work to prepare the bike for the start of the season at the end of February.

“The excellent track conditions helped a lot, and being able to lap together with the others confirmed that we are all very competitive. The tests were positive but we’ve still got some development margin. We didn’t try out any new electronics and only tested with the two tyres Pirelli brought to Valencia. Now we head for the Christmas break with the knowledge that we’ve obtained everything possible with the material available. For sure we’ll have some more new things to try at Portimao but I’m already feeling pretty confident “.