Ducati's Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden ride into Wrooom 2012 aboard the two-seater - on ice!

Ducati held its 22nd edition of the Wrooom Press Ski Meeting at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy last week, launching its 2012 MotoGP team, albeit without the debut of Ducati’s anticipated GP12.

The Ducati Team riders were the stars of the first day of Wrooom 2012, with Nicky Hayden first to answer questions from the international press in attendance.

“I can’t wait to ride the GP12, because it will be my first time ever,” Hayden said. “I wasn’t able to try it in the post-race test at Valencia, and I definitely won’t miss the next chance.

“I never made any secret that I prefer the new displacement to the 800s, although I think things will be much different than in 2006, beginning with the tyres, and the electronics have also come a long way. We’ll have more power, and we’ll have to find the right balance between controlling it while still taking as much advantage of it as we can.

“I’ve stayed in contact with Filippo [Preziosi] and the guys in the Ducati Corse department over the winter, and I know they’ve worked really hard. We’ll have a lot of things to try at Sepang. I know it won’t be easy, but I’m also confident that we can start to reduce the gap between now and the first race at Qatar.

“I believe in Ducati, this project and Filippo, and I want to get back on my Ducati as soon as possible.”

The American, who is recovering well enough from his injured left scapula that he has already removed his sling, then passed the baton to a pleased Valentino Rossi, who is motivated to get back in the saddle and start winter testing in just over two weeks.

“We’re starting with a different spirit,” Valentino Rossi began with a smile. “When I came to Wrooom, I was still healing from my shoulder operation, and after that, the season didn’t go at all like we’d hoped. For this year, Filippo designed a different bike, and they’ve made a big effort at Ducati to have it in time for the start of the winter tests.

“I visited the factory and saw it on a computer, and it’s beautiful. We’re not expecting it to be immediately perfect at Sepang, but rather to understand if we’ve worked in the proper direction. We’re very realistic, and our goal is to reduce the gap to our competition, step by step, working in a logical way, and from there to be able to refine the details in order to be competitive and to try and win.

“One of the most important things for going fast is to make the tyres work as they’re able to, so together with Filippo, we’ve tried to come up with a bike that will let them perform as well as possible. We’ll see if we’ve managed it. I like working with Ducati. I feel good here because there’s a nice atmosphere and we all have faith.”

The second day saw Ducati Corse general manager Filippo Preziosi inform the international press regarding the technical aspects of the Desmosedici GP12 that Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will ride in the upcoming test at Sepang on 31 January–2 February.

“As is the case every year, it’s a pleasure to kick off our season in such a nice setting as Madonna di Campiglio,” Preziosi began before providing a brief summary of the work schedule that led to the assembly of the GP12, currently taking place in Borgo Panigale.

“Over the recent months, we followed an intensive, consistent test program, which culminated with the two-day post-race test in Valencia. By analyzing the data-acquisition information, the riders’ comments and the setup sheets, we defined the target values for the new frame geometry.

“Now, with Jeremy (Burgess), Juan (Martinez) and our riders, we’ll work at the track to define the bike’s base setup so that we can then proceed with the customary development work that’s typically done during winter testing, with the goal of starting a trend of improvement in terms of competitiveness.

“Normally, it takes two years to complete the process from the calculation stage, to design, to component construction, to test-bench ‘shakedown,’ to track testing, to racing. By compressing this process down to a span of just months, we’ve accepted a challenge that we know will be very difficult, but we believe it’s possible.

“All this is thanks to the extraordinary group that includes Valentino and Nicky, who last year agreed to a number of tests that often affected their performance, as well as our team, our designers and our sponsors – in particular the title sponsor, a partner that has always been steadfastly at our side.

“Ducati is a company that has already faced significant challenges in the past, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

On the final day, Valentino Rossi, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Giancarlo Fisichella and Marc Genè were the stars of the kart and Fiat 500 races that wowed the large crowd that had gathered to greet the Ducati riders and Ferrari drivers.

Rossi won the kart race and finished second in the car race, behind Felipe Massa and ahead of Fernando Alonso – perhaps a sign of things to come in 2012?