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Casey Stoner set the pace today at MotoGP’s second off-season test at Sepang. The Australian, and the rest of the four factory Honda riders, proved to be very impressive on the Malaysian track, as the 2011 Honda RC212V seems to be hitting its stride just before the season opener in Qatar in a few weeks.

The Honda riders don’t have things all sewn up though, as the Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo was looking very fast, as were Americans Ben Spies and Colin Edwards. Earlier in the day, nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi even cracked into the Top 5 on the standings, and despite finishing the day just over a second behind Stoner, the Italian was upbeat about the team’s progress and his physical condition.

The Yamaha Racing factory MotoGP team may not have a title sponsor for the 2011 season, but reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo has had no problem getting some personal sponsorships for next season. Rumors were rife a few weeks ago that Lorenzo had made a switch from Dainese to Alpinestars for his leathers, boots, and gloves sponsorship (making an inverse flop with Nicky Hayden who was making the switch from Alpinestars to Dainese), and last week we brought you the first photos of what looked like a photo shoot that Lorenzo did with Rockstar Energy Drink.

Entering into MotoGP for the first time, Rockstar is Lorenzo’s only American sponsor. No terms have been released on the deal, but we hope Lorenzo is getting a boatload of cash from the energy drink producer, as the Spaniard has had some sort of Rockstar emblazoned garment on him at all times during his trip to Indonesia (including scuba diving?).

If you are a Ducati owner, Valentino Rossi Fan, Italian, or have more than a passing interest in MotoGP, then today is the day you’ve had marked on your 2011 calendar (with perhaps the Valencia test being the date of 2010). Finally released from his contractual obligations with Yamaha, Valentino Rossi can officially begin his duties working for Ducati Corse this week, and Ducati has already capitalized on the moment by showing off Rossi’s new leathers to great fanfare. Now the pièce de résistance and the end to our torment, Ducati has finally debuted the Ducati Desmosedici GP11 at the 2011 Wrooom media event, a joint launch event between Ferrari and Ducati held in the Dolomite Mountains.

Remember the good old days when the print saturated media that cover MotoGP would take months to show us the first photos of the new season’s race bikes? If a magazine wasn’t on its game, there used to be a good chance you’d get your first glimpse of a team’s new race livery at the season opener before you’d see it in your next issue of (insert publication name here).

Well the internet is changing all that, and now do we not only get near-live coverage of Ducati & Ferrari’s Wrooom event with press releases and media photos, but tools like Facebook and Twitter are adding a dimension to the experience that not only brings us information and media faster, but adds an element of depth to the single-perspective reports we’d normally receive.

Such is the case with Valentino Rossi’s Ducati Desmosedici GP11 race bike (first teased here), as MotoGP commentator Toby Moody snapped this camera phone photo of the bike as it was being carted around at Wrooom. Neon seems to be the name of the game, which is probably due to a combination of making the bike TV ready (there’s an interesting discussion on Wikipedia about how the standard Rosso Corsa red color scheme has changed over the years because of TV quality and saturation), and integrating Valentino Rossi’ unhealthy obsession with the color neon yellow into the Ducati Corse style. A shot of Nicky’s bike awaits you in the gallery after the jump.

Amidst all the fanfare over seeing Valentino Rossi wearing Rosso Corsa and sporting his new Dainese leathers, which surprisingly aren’t being sponsored by McDonald’s, one announcement has gotten little attention (and no, we’re not talking about Nicky Hayden). The 2011 Wrooom event signals the end of a three-year strategic plan that’s been going on internally at Ducati, which has seen the Italian company release 12 new models, increase sales across the board, and ship 36,200 motorcycles in 2010 alone.

Holding a press conference this morning at the Wrooom media event in the Dolomite Mountains, Valentino Rossi finally got a chance to officially talk to the press about his experience testing the Ducati at Valencia late last year, and his general impressions on riding with Ducati Corse. Commenting that “the Ducati is different from all the other bikes, it’s a proper prototype, the concept is different from the Japanese factories,” Rossi went on to explain that “you need a bit of a ‘dirtier’ style to ride the Desmosedici.”

In addition to his thoughts, official photos of Rossi’s leathers (Nicky Hayden’s as well, but to less fanfare) have been released by Ducati Corse, which see Rossi’s neon yellow color scheme mixed in with the red and white of Ducati Corse. The clashing colors might not please the aesthetically critical, but we have a feeling people will get used to the arrangement. Photos of the GP11’s race livery are expected tomorrow (Wednesday).

Ducati Corse’s joint launch with Ferrari kicked off today (not really, the official opener had to be postponed because of weather), and with it we get the first glimpses of Valentino Rossi in true Ducati colors, and not the yellow and black livery he had to wear during the Valencia test. Taking part in the Wrooom 2011 media event in the Dolomite Mountains, Rossi joins teammate Nicky Hayden in starting the new racing season with Ducati Corse.

Somewhere in between the skiing-filled days, and jacuzzi-soaked nights, a few things resembling a press conference will take place where Rossi will talk about his thoughts on the Desmosedici (scheduled for Tuesday), and Ducati will unveil the GP11 race bike (Q&A on the bike is scheduled for Wednesday), which may or may not feature a Big Bang motor (we think it will though).

For the week’s activities, Rossi and Hayden are joined by Ferrari’s Formula 1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who will be doing similar media maneuvers for Ferrari this week. The foursome is schedule to compete in a head-to-head skiing battle on Friday, but we don’t expect Rossi to actually take to skis this year with his recovering shoulder (good money is on Alonso as Massa has never seen snow before, and most things that pass for skiing in Kentucky involve a car, a rope, and a McDonald’s food tray).

“Getting a boob job… Lol O boy think the drugs are kicking in cuz all these nurses are 10’s…” read a tweet by Nicky Hayden, and under different circumstances we’d be very concerned for the former MotoGP World Champion’s mental health. Here in Northern California today, Hayden went under the knife of Dr. Art Ting at the Fremont Surgery Center for an operation on Hayden’s wrist.

Nicky Hayden had been suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome this season, with his hand and fingers losing feeling and going to sleep during races in the latter half on the season. According to Hayden the surgery went according to plan, and the Ducati rider will be back in Kentucky for Thanksgiving. No word on how things with the nurses worked out.

Source: Nicky Hayden (twitter) & Superbike Plant

Announced last night at the L.A. Auto Show, Ducati and AMG (Mercedes-Benz’s tuning house) have formed a partnership between the two brands the will first manifest itself by having the German car tuner sponsoring the Italian company’s MotoGP team. Rumored for over a month now, this announcement finally puts to bed the speculation that Fiat would sponsor Ducati now that Valentino Rossi has joined the Rosso Corse team, and is also the first official sponsorship announcement for Ducati Corse’s 2011 season.

With Rossi healing his wounds back in Italy, Nicky Hayden was on hand for the event with a Ducati Diavel and Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG on stage with him. Asked what he thought about the partnership, Hayden replied, “Well, if this is my company bike and this is my company car, I’d say I’m doing pretty well.” We’d tend to agree.

Are you one of the loyal Ducatisti who is not so crazy about the new Ducati Diavel? Don’t worry, because Nicky Hayden feels your pain, and went as far as to create his own concept bike for Ducati’s newly released performance cruiser. Based off the 800cc V4 motor of the Ducati Desmosedici GP10, Hayden’s low-riding two-wheeled vision uses an all carbon frame, Öhlins suspension, and Brembo monoblocs.

It also comes fitted stock with Bridgestone’s top-of-the-line performance tires, and has numerous carbon fiber bits and pieces, not to mention traction control, launch control, wheelie control, but no ABS. Available only in Rosso Corsa for now, we hear a one-off limited edition white paint scheme may also be available later next year. No word on price, but the above model comes slightly used.

Source: Alex Hofmann (Twitter) via Ducati News Today

There is a reason why Nicky Hayden is rapidly becoming one of our favorite riders in the MotoGP paddock (behind Randy de Puniet of course). The Kentucky Kid always tells it how he sees it, is constantly up-beat, and is perhaps one of the most personable riders in the sport, often cracking jokes and egging-on the journalists during press conferences and rider debriefs.

It therefore comes with no surprise that Hayden brought his A-material to Thursday’s press conference in Valencia for MotoGP’s last stop on the 2010 calendar. When asked about his thoughts on joining Valentino Rossi as a teammate again on Tuesday for the 2011 season (Hayden and Rossi were teammates during 2003 with the Repsol Honda team), Hayden was quick with his wit in his response to their reunion at Ducati Corse.