With a strong start to the season for the Italian based squad, Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) are looking forward to the ever popular Acerbis Dutch Round, at a track which they both believe will confirm their progress in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.

Davies, who was able to bounce back from a crash in race one at MotorLand Aragon to take his first victory of the year in race two, is hoping to build on knowledge gained from previous rounds in order to be competitive around the Dutch circuit. With modifications made to his Panigale R in a test following the Aragon Round, as well as anticipating changes in weather conditions around Assen, Davies is keen to continue the form he was able to show around MotorLand.

With a clear determination to win from Davies, he explains: "I'm excited to be back on track this weekend, especially because I think we made progress in post-race tests at Aragon. In this sense, the Assen round is another opportunity to evaluate the upgrades that really worked in Spain. The track is completely different and will be an important test, but in any case I am confident that we have taken a step forward. At Assen in 2016 we had a great step on the dry, but the weather is always an unknown. But we want to continue where we left off from Aragon. "

Returning team-mate Melandri has a wealth of experience around the iconic TT Circuit Assen, but with it being his first time out on track with his 2017 Ducati it will be an interesting step for the Italian. Securing two podium finishes in Round Three, Melandri will be looking to continue this run of form as well as take on the fight for the victory.

"Assen is a track I like very much,” begins Melandri. “Although in the old configuration it was even more exciting, but for various reasons I never managed to win there with the SBK. It will be an important test for us, because it is a track completely different from the ones we have run so far. We hope to bring confirmation of the progress made with the latest updates tested in post-race tests at Aragon. Physically I feel good, fortunately it took me a week to recover from the crash at the test, and I managed to train well.”

Keep up with the progress of the Italian team, as they look to dominate in a highly competitive WorldSBK feild around TT Circuit Assen, with WorldSBK’s VideoPass, which provides exlusive videos, highlights, interviews and much more.