Melandri struggling at Donington Park with “physical” Ducati

A dismal weekend for Marco Melandri saw the Italian slip further away from an elusive WSBK title, as he failed to score a top ten placing in either race that he has started in one weekend for the first time since the Nurburgring in 2012, as a factory BMW rider.

Melandri struggled excessively all weekend, along with the other Ducati riders, putting it down to a nervous and physical bike to ride.

“I was hoping to be able to keep yesterday’s rhythm, which would have allowed us to get close to the top five, but unfortunately the changes made didn’t yield the expected results and on Sunday, the bike was quite nervous and physical to ride, which affected our performance,” began the ex 250cc champion.

“I simply tried not to make mistakes and take home as many points as possible. Let’s look ahead, to Brno, where we were quite competitive during the tests even though we still need to make a few steps forward to fight at the top once again.”

Melandri now heads to Brno, a circuit of which World Superbikes have not visited since 2012, when Melandri himself completed a double victory. In 2011, when he made his World Superbike debut, Melandri was 1st and 2nd in race one and two respectively, suggesting Brno may be the place where we see him return to form.