Superbike, Pirelli Aragon Round, FP: progress for Marco Melandri

Two rounds of free practice took place today at MotorLand Aragon for the WorldSBK riders and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) finished second, behind only Jonathan Rea by +0.099s.

The man from Ravenna had a good feeling with his Panigale R and in fact told WorldSBK.com: “I feel very good with the bike, the team did an excellent job and we took small steps in the right direction. Today the conditions were difficult, the wind was very irregular and this took away my confidence, but I felt very good on my Panigale. I have some difficulties in the first sector, but I can look at the data of Chaz (Davies) who is very fast, to try to learn a little more."

“We didn't do a real race simulation, but our work was aimed at improving the last part of the race where we suffered in Thailand” – he added Marco Melandri – “We believe we have made a good journey and have clear ideas on what we need, only tomorrow we will see if we are right or not”.

Before tomorrow, however, there are some details to work on: “Tonight we need to improve something on the electronics for the race distance and try to understand what we can still do with the suspension for the corners where they are in difficulty. Furthermore, I will try to change my driving style myself in those sectors where I am not very fast."

However, the day was very different Chaz Davies, credited as the possible winner in the race, who practically missed the first round due to technical problems suffered by his Panigale R: the Welshman eventually managed to get on the track but understandably his was not a significant session, which ended in over three seconds from Rea.
The team worked hard for FP2 and Davies was able to carry out the planned programme, setting a good fourth time which however cannot satisfy him: Honestly, I still don't feel completely comfortable. We've gotten back on top and we're not far behind, but we still have to improve."