A lot people have been hoping to see Troy Bayliss back in SBK, and their prayers were finally answered in Spain. The Australian 2001 SBK world champion joined the Valencia test sessions organised by Pirelli and proceeded to demonstrate convincingly that he has lost none of his edge in the three years he has spent in Moto GP. Though he had never ridden the Ducati 999 and had no experience of the new Pirelli tyres, by the time he left the Spanish circuit, Bayliss had clocked up the second fastest time of only 1’36”1, just four tenths of a second behind his team mate Lorenzo Lanzi.

An amazing performance indeed, considering that Bayliss has still not fully recovered from the broken wrist he sustained during a motocross practice session about two months ago, and was therefore certainly not at his best.
“I was told it would take me months to get over this injury, but it was simply too important for me to be at these tests. As things stand I reckon I’m at about 70% of my top form. By the Qatar test session in December, I’ll be 80% OK, and by the end of the year I’ll be pretty well 100%” again. You’ll see!”
- What was it like riding a Ducati SBK again?