Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi topped this afternoon's official preseason test session at Catalunya in sensational style, with a lap time 0.8secs quicker than pole position for the 2002 Catalunya Grand🅠 Prix.

Capirossi - whose spe൩ctacular best lap was♛ watched on live TV by millions of bike-race fans around the world - was ecstatic with his performance.

"I'm so happy, I really wanted that, so I rode 110 per cent!" beamed the Italian who had earlier suffered a mino♛r fall, when an oil pipe split and leaked oil onto the rear tyre. "My fastest lap 🔜was hot - I went into a few corners a bit too fast but the bike still turned, no problem."

The generous Italian immedi﷽ately donated his BMW sports car - the prize for today's fastest rider in the one-hour 'Qualifying' session - to his mechanics, who will sell the vehicle and split the proceeds amongst themselves.

"My mechanics have worked so hard for this, so they deserve it," he said. "But we h♏ave a long season ahead of us, and a lot more work to do."

Capirossi's astonishing pace - 1.96 seconds inside the track record - underlined ܫthe remarkable progress made by Ducati since the start of their MotoGP project.

The bike has yet to turn a wheel in anger but♏ has already shown that it should be a real force o🔜nce the 2003 season starts in Japan on April 6.

At the end of the days runn𝔉ing, Capiross🌌i's time set in the one hour session was just under 0.2secs faster than nearest rival Tohru Ukawa, with Yamaha's Alex Barros third [see results for more details].