SBK | Pata Italian Round, FP3: Ducati competitive in Imola free practice

The Aruba Racing Team Ducati starts very well in their home round, at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, thanks to a solid performance in free practice which sees Chaz Davies in the lead and Marco Melandri in third place, as well as an excellent Rinaldi who managed to enter the Top ten with the Junior Team and is therefore qualified for the second heat of Tissot-Superpole.

The prediction coming out of free practice sees Chaz Davies and Jonathan Rea as the main contenders for the final victory: the two riders also actually share the top of the time table given that they curiously achieved the same time, 1'46.686, a sign that in somehow the forces at play are very similar.

Chaz Davies he is satisfied with how the team approached the day: “This morning we were in no hurry to make changes, even if it seemed like we needed them. We let the track bring them to us, we let ourselves go a little and it seemed to work, it seems to have helped our bike a little. I can't say we made a lot of changes today, but it was good to do it this way, because it gives us a little more information to work with tonight. I think we know that we have to improve for tomorrow to nibble away at the last tenths. Someone could wake up tomorrow and find something good, but it seems like it could come from Marco or Savadori, who I think did well today. But I think Johnny and I have a bit more pace than the others.”

The day was also positive for Marco Melandri: the rider from Ravenna was always fast but above all his Panigale did not suffer any of the problems that affected him last race weekend and in this case the tests carried out in Brno are proving to be very useful.

“We're solving a lot of things now” – explained Marco Melandri – “We haven't really solved the problems, but now we understand how to manage them. I think it was an important test for me and for Aruba.it Racing – Ducati, so we'll see if we can take another step forward tomorrow to stay close to the guys in front.”

Positive news also from the Junior Team with Michael Ruben Rinaldi who managed to qualify for Tissot-Superpole2 ahead of people like Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team): “We made a good time. I'm not fully satisfied with tenth position, because this time we had a bit more problems, we need to improve a lot to stay with the top five riders. This is my goal for the race, I like this track and I want to do well, but I have never raced here with Superbikes. It's very difficult, compared to an STK1000, so we have to work a lot.”