2011 Yamaha World Superbike riders Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri today completed the second of two days testing at the Phillip Island circuit ahead of the season opening round this coming weekend.
Both riders spent the sessions working on set up to deliver consistent pace for the Australian circuit. The team achieved their target of testing all updates for the 2011 R1 race bike, and will now take a couple of days rest in preparation for the two races on Sunday 27th February.
Italian rider Marco Melandri is still recovering from his previous shoulder operation and so rode less on the final sessions to give himself enough time to rest before the weekend.
"I am very happy because I feel a big improvement from my shoulder," Melandri said. "The second day was still quite difficult though, I didn't ride a lot as my shoulder was having some pain. The bike has made a small improvement over the last test and we have a good plan to make it even better for the race. My physical condition for the race distance is a question mark but we will see what happens on Sunday!"
Eugene Laverty added, "It's been a tough test but we're making progress bit by bit. We're focusing on consistency for the races, that's been the focus since we started the test. We've found that now and all we need is a little bit more pace. I'm excited about the race, it's a strange track like no other and requires a unique set up. I think it's going to be the smart guys who are there at the end of the race."
Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager - Andrea Dosoli, said, "All our jobs are done here for the test which gives us the confidence that we've achieved our targets. We wanted a more consistent bike and we've got it. The Ducati is very quick at this track so we need to improve some more and reduce the time difference. For the two races on Sunday I am feeling quite confident as Eugene is improving everyday and is very consistent. Marco has also put a lot of laps in on his shoulder so we believe that with two days of rest he will be ok for the races. After all the winter tests we are ready. Considering both riders are World Superbike rookies and Marco recently had an operation we are happy with our results here."
Yamaha ParkinGO riders Luca Scassa and Chas Davies wrapped up the World Superpsort test at the same test, completing a valuable two days of familiarization with the 2009 championship winning Yamaha R6 Supersport bike. This is only the second opportunity the team and riders have had to spend time with the machines due to the late coming together of Yamaha and ParkinGo.
The team changed suspension partners between tests so this was their first time riding with the new set up. Both riders spent the two days chasing down a set up for the upcoming World Supersport opening round this weekend. Davies testing today was interrupted by a high speed crash after a change of tyres, the young British rider walking away uninjured after coming off on a fast right hand corner, crashing at nearly 220km'hr.
Luca Scassa finished the test sitting seventh fastest in the standings with a time of 1'35.272, team mate Chas Davies was in 11th with a time of 1'35.819.
Main Photo: Marco Melandri
Credit: www.yamaha-racing.com
