Marco Melandri already fast at Valencia

Marco Melandri’s first outing with the Yamaha Superbike at Valencia was a big success, judging by the lap times (interesting that they’ve given out th times for a private test).
The Italian posted a best time of 1.
33.
9 with a soft qualifying tire, which would put his off only by 2 tenths from Valentino Rossi’s time on the Ducati GP, the day before.

Eugene Laverty was also at the test for a second meeting with his R1 after the official post season test at Magny Cours, riding both the 2010 and the 2011 bikes with the new YZF-R1 now mounting Ohlins 2011 front forks.

Marco Melandri (1’33.
9 79 laps) “It was a very good first day.
In the beginning it was a completely different feeling to a MotoGP bike, much bigger! Lap by lap the feeling got better and better and I really enjoyed it.
I was riding smoothly and I was especially happy with the Pirelli tyres, I got a really good feeling for the bike with them.
I love the engine, it was impressive so I am very excited to go to Australia and carry on.

”Eugene Laverty (1’34.
9, 76 laps) “I’m feeling really comfortable with the bike.
At Magny Cours I didn’t want to judge too much by one track, Valencia is very different so to feel good here as well is very positive.
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.
I’m feeling really positive, I think we’re heading in the right direction to have a very competitive bike for the new season.
”