Just days after bidding a less than fond farewell to MotoGP, Melandri and new team-mate Eugene Laverty took to the Spanish circuit for a one-day test.
Enabling him to get acclimatised on both the bike that was campaigned by Cal Crutchlow in 2010 and also the 2011 version, Melandri was on fine form aboard the R1 as he dropped under the 1min 34secs benchmark on soft tyres.
Setting an unofficial best time of 1min 33.9secs on soft rubber and 1min 34.3secs on race rubber, Melandri is already comparing favourably to the outright lap record – held by Ben Spies – of 1min 33.270 and Noriyuki Haga’s race lap record of 1min 34.618secs.
Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty concluded a successful one-day test at Valencia today with the Italian posting impressive lap times during his first ever ride on a Superbike.
Melandri has spent his career racing prototypes having graduated from 125GP to 250GP and into MotoGP in a career that has already spanned 13 years. But despite having no racing experience on a production bike or Pirelli tyres he demonstrated an impressive pace.
“We did dome good work with the 2011 bike.
STERILGARDA YAMAHA World Superbike 2011 team-mates Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty have been out on track in testing at Valencia, putting both the 2010 and new 2011 racebike through their paces. On qualifying tyres, Melandri posted a lap only 0.2secs slower than Valentino Rossi's best lap at the previous day’s MotoGP test.
Team-mate Eugene Laverty posted a best time of 1:34.9 and clocked up 76 laps.
Marco Melandri, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1’33.9, 79laps)
“It was a very good first day. Eugene laverty, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1’34.9, 76laps)
“I’m feeling really comfortable with the bike. I rode the 2011 bike and we managed to gather a lot of really useful data to help prepare for the next test at Phillip Island.