Barni Racing Team duo Leandro Mercado and Ondrej Jezek successfully completed a two day test last week at MotorLand Aragon, the same track that will host the first round of the 2014 FIM Superstock 1000 Cup next April 11-13. Both riders improved their feeling with the Ducati 1199 Panigale R and put in some consistent lap times over the two days.

"We definitely started off on the right foot." said Barni Racing Team Manager Mauro Barnabò."It has been a very good test, we tried different things on the technical side and the feedback from both riders was very positive. We now need to keep working hard in order to be ready and competitive from the first race."

Mercado was the first rider to be selected by the Italian team last year. The 22 year old from Cordoba, Argentina is still adapting to the new bike, after several years riding a Kawasaki ZX-10R.
"The test went really well" said Leandro Mercado."We made big steps forward with the overall bike set-up and I developed a good feeling with the Panigale, I have to say its chassis is really good. The pace is not bad and I feel we have taken a good direction, I hope we can continue this way. I'm really happy of what we have done so far."

Ondrej Jezek had to pass a "test" last November before being eventually chosen to ride the second Barni Racing Team Ducati 1199 Panigale. The Czech rider, unlike Mercado, is not new to the twin-cylinder machine from Borgo Panigale: "I'm really satisfied with the Aragon test" added Ondrej Jezek. "It was really good to jump back on the bike after the winter break. We gathered some useful data for the season and the team has worked so well. We did some important settings improvement with the bike and I can't wait to hit the track again."