[Henners]

Just one day after the end of the 2004 MotoGP World Championship, the Ducati Marlboro Team returned to the Valencia circuit to commence its winter testing programme with Loris Capirossi and new signing Carlos Checa.

Checa tried the Desmosedici GP4 for the first time this afternoon, clocking a best lap of 1min 34.0secs. That is 0.3secs faster than his fastest lap from Sunday's season ending Valencia Grand Prix, when he finished 14th on a factory Yamaha M1, but 0.21secs slower than the best race lap by outgoing Ducati rider Troy Bayliss