MotoGP news

Melandri completes final day of testing for Ducati

On Thursday it was only Marco Melandri who came on track for the Ducati Marlboro Team. The Italian completed a total of 68 laps. His team-mate Casey Stoner flew back home as he was unable to ride with his injured left shoulder.

Melandri doesn't yet feel fully at ease on the machine but believes he has given his engineers some feedback that will enable them to make the bike feel more suitable for him when testing resumes in late January.

Marco Melandri commented on his final day of testing: "Once again, we didn't spare ourselves today - we worked very hard until quite late. Anyway, so far I haven't found my best riding position, so I don't feel enough at ease to use the bike to its maximum potential. We made a lot of changes to the settings but when we made the bike behave better into the corner, it got worse on the exit, and vice versa. That's why we didn't do so many tyre tests, because I couldn't get the right kind of feedback. I nevertheless think I have given my technicians some useful information which will help me to feel more in tune with the bike when we start again in January."

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