Aruba.it Ducati’s Marco Melandri enjoyed a ‘positive’ two days of testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain as he gears up for his World Superbike return this season.
The former 250cc world champion makes his return to racing in 2017 following a year on the sidelines after a disastrous half-season with Gresini Aprilia in MotoGP in 2015. Despite being out of action for so long, the Italian is gelling nicely with his Panigale R as the new season fast approaches.
Melandri expected to struggle physically having undergone surgery on his knee over the winter, but encountered no troubles as a result. He did, however, suffer blistering on his hands having not ridden for quite some time, and this stopped him from doing any race simulations on the second day.
Nonetheless, the Italian was still able to work through his extensive testing programme, evaluating upgrades to the Panigale’s engine, electronics and its chassis. On Tuesday he completed 71 laps and was just six and a half tenths of a second off the pace in fourth on the time sheets. Wednesday saw him manage a further 63 laps and improve his laptime by half a second to a 1m40.3s, keeping him fourth but edging him a tenth closer to the best lap set by Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea.
Pleased with how the team is working, Melandri felt happier on the bike from the first day to the next. He admits that the Panigale R is struggling to warm up the tyres – though he partly attributes this to the cooler conditions – but is confident that they are progressing sufficiently.
Melandri and Ducati, along with several other teams, will head to Portugal and the Circuit Algarve for two days of running this weekend before jetting off to Australia for the final official pre-season test of the year at Phillip Island next month.
“It’s been a really positive test. I expected some more difficulties after the meniscus surgery, but actually I felt quite well,” he said.
“The team is doing a great job and everyday I feel more comfortable on the bike. We still struggle a bit on fresh tyres, also because with the cold climate it’s more difficult to warm them up, but we’re heading in the right direction. I would have liked to do a race simulation, but we’ll wait until Portimão because I had some blisters in my hands after such a long break.
“Physically I feel fine though, I recovered completely and I’m sure I’ll be 100 percent fit for Phillip Island.”
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