SBK | Geico US Round, FP3: good start for Ducati

The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team started the eighth round of the Superbike World Championship on a positive note, staged at Laguna Seca (United States), concluding Friday's free practice with Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies in second and sixth position respectively.

Melandri got off to an excellent start and remained firmly at the top of the timesheets, stopping the clock at 1'23.458, just 0.354 seconds from the top, and also finding good results from the point of view of race pace. Davies, however, progressively improved, removing around four tenths from his benchmarks over the course of the day to close in 1'23.635, with a pace very similar to that of his teammate.

The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will return to the track on Saturday 23 June at 09:00 local time (CET -9) for the fourth and final free practice session ahead of Superpole and Race 1, with departure set for 14pm: 00 (23pm Italian).

Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 1'23.458 (2nd)
“Overall it was a positive day for me and the team. We had some difficulties in FP2 while we were evaluating different tire options, and I had a slight movement entering the Corkscrew which caused a crash without consequences, but in FP3 we immediately found the feeling again. At the moment Rea is a little faster, but our pace is good and we can at least fight for the podium. In any case we will try to improve further in FP4 and then we will have to be fast in Superpole because it is not easy to overtake here. However, the race is always a story in itself."

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 1'23.635 (6th)
“All in all we started off on the right foot. I struggled a bit during FP1, then we made some changes and gradually got closer to the top. I think we made good progress between sessions. Unfortunately we were forced to end FP3 slightly early due to a technical problem. I probably could have trimmed the lap time further, but overall I'm pretty happy with the direction we've taken. The priority tomorrow will first of all be to do a good Superpole, then we will see how to play our cards. We hope to continue to improve."