To better prepare for the second Italian round of the 2017 WorldSBK Championship, scheduled for June 16-18 in Misano, the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team held a two-day test on the track titled to Marco Simoncelli together with several other teams from the production-based series.
Both Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri tried several setup configurations, getting a head start with the work before the official sessions begin. The second day of testing concluded at 1 p.m. local time (CET) so that the paddock could be set up for another event taking place this weekend. The team will resume action at Misano on Friday, June 16th, for the first free-practice session.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7)
“It was a pretty good test. We got through a detailed program of lists to try. Even without major upgrades, we had some small but important things to try. We focused on chassis balance, riding many laps. Our consistency and overall pace on race tyres was good, I slipped off on the qualifying tyre in the last corner but everything is OK. The weather conditions were really hot, with about 50 degrees on the tarmac, and it was important to lay down a good base since the weather should be similar during the race weekend. We just need to put a few things together from the data collected in the last couple of tests. I’m looking forward to race in front the Italian fans again.”
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33)
“We can only be partially happy, I expected something more from these tests. We tried several setup configurations to improve the stability of the rear under acceleration while upshifting, and things have improved to this end. However, we’re still struggling under braking to get the bike to stop and turn. I don’t have the necessary confidence to push as hard as I’d like with the front yet. We found something interesting in the final hours, but we couldn’t explore that setup further because we ran out of time. We’ll try to restart from there during FP1 at Misano. I’m confident we’ll soon be able to make strides.”
