SBK | Brno test: bad fall for Marco Melandri

The two days of testing concluded yesterday in Brno, which saw six of the leading teams in the World Championship of production-based derivatives set up their work in view of the Imola round and begin to gain confidence with the Czech track, which is back on the calendar this year after an absence of 5 years.

The Aruba Racing Ducati Team was present in full: the main objective was to prepare well for the home round in Imola, scheduled from 11 to 13 May, even if the weather characterized by some showers of rain and wind, did not it helped a lot.
For Marco Melandri the priority was to improve the straight line stability seen in Assen in both races, and lay the foundations of the set up for Imola.
Chaz Davies is satisfied with the work carried out, although he does not hide that some open points remain and we will have to wait for the next free practices to verify the competitiveness of the bike on the Italian track.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi took advantage of the two days of testing to familiarize himself with the Brno track with a superbike.

Moments of apprehension in the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati garage on Wednesday due to the bad fall suffered by Marco Melandri, who commented on the incident on Instagram by posting a photo of himself on the seat of Jonathan Rea's Kawasaki, which stopped along the route to give him a lift, accompanied by the comment “It was terrifying”.

“It was a concrete test, we leave Brno with room for improvement, but the races are often a completely different story” – he commented Chaz Davies – “It's always nice to ride on this track, even if these days there was wind and a lot of pollen, so it wasn't in the best conditions. We worked hard for two days, finding important answers even if we still need to clarify some question marks. Now I will recharge my batteries ahead of Imola."

“It was a very important test. The priority, even more than preparing for the race here, was to improve stability on the straight. We have made a decisive change and the situation has improved significantly. We also did several comparative tests to better understand the nature of the problem, and I think we succeeded” – he said Marco Melandri – “Maybe not 100%, but we have made a big step forward. Now let's go to Imola: I'm confident and sure that I can fight, with even more determination than before."

“In general we are quite satisfied, because in terms of performance we were close to the official drivers and we found a good base, both in terms of the fastest lap and the regularity of the race pace” – commented Michael Rinaldi – “The track is very beautiful and physically not too tiring. I had only ridden there years ago with the Moto3, and I have to say that it's really fun to tackle with the Superbike."