WSBK: Melandri Announced As Camier Replacement for Barni

Barni Racing have announced the replacement for Leon Camier, after it was announced that the team had parted ways with the British rider.

It has been announced that Marco Melandri will be replacing Leon Camier for the remainder of the 2020 WorldSBK season at Barni Racing, to pilot their Ducati V4R. 

Melandri left the WorldSBK paddock last season, as he retired from professional racing at the end of the 2019 season, in which he competed with GRT Yamaha. 

Whilst Melandri’s announcement comes as something of a surprise, it is notable that in the past the Italian noted that in hindsight staying with Ducati beyond 2018 would have been a good career move for him. 

The final season with Ducati, in 2018, was marred by instability problems for Melandri, where the bike would visibly shake and wobble at the front at high speeds. This was a problem that went almost completely unresolved throughout 2018 and led to disappointing results for the 2002 250cc World Champion.

Between 2018 and 2019, Ducati retired the old Panigale 1199 V-twin bike that it had run in superbike series since 2013 and with the factory team since its return to WSBK in 2014. In its place came the V4R, with which Alvaro Bautista dominated the early part of last season’s championship, comfortably winning races by over ten seconds on multiple occasions.

As well as more power, the V4R offered aerodynamic winglets, and with this announcement it will be interesting to see whether the new bike will make a difference for Melandri, with regards to the stability problems he suffered before, and whether any benefit that is found compared to 2018 is down to the winglets. 

The support Melandri will get from Ducati is unclear, although it is notable that there has historically been quite a strong relationship between the factory and the Barni team. Either way, from the available options it is difficult to see a better one for Barni than Melandri, who already proved in 2017 that he can come back after over one year and be competitive – the Italian even winning in Misano in that comeback year. 

Additionally, something which has been noticeable with the V4R this year compared to last year is the comparative lack of mind-bending straight line speed that allowed Alvaro Bautista to hammer past rivals on the straight without even bothering with the slipstream. It was also visible last year that Bautista’s Ducati was faster in a straight line than Chaz Davies’, and looking at Scott Redding’s parity with Davies in a straight line this year, since the reigning British Superbike champion made the switch to the world stage, it is quite feasible that this could be down to the weight of Bautista. As a rider of similar height to Bautista, it is perhaps, then, not ridiculous to imagine that Melandri’s weight could provide similar benefits aboard the V4R as the Spaniard enjoyed last season. 

With the second round of the 2020 Superbike World Championship now only two weeks away, we will not have to wait long to find out how Melandri will get on with his new bike.