At the circuit he dominated around last season, Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) put in a solid two days worth of testing around Lausitzring, as his team-mate Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) began to learn the circuit upon his return to the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.

Trying out different setting with his Panigale R, as well as fine tuning some parts of his bike, Davies was happy with the overall outcome of the test but feels he can still improve in some areas. With both dry and wet conditions greeting the riders, he was able to evaluate his pace in all types of conditions, putting him in a solid condition ahead of Round Nine in three weeks time. Despite still suffering some pain from his crash in Misano back in June, the Welsh rider doesn’t seem concerned ahead of the second half of the season.

“It was a good test overall,” explains Davies. “On the first day we didn’t really stay within our usual window, and we experimented a bit. So, I was looking forward to this morning, to get back to what we know and gauge our level more in depth. We still have room for improvement but I'm happy with the way the Panigale R felt in its more usual setup. We did some important work. We had a good list of things to try and I think we learned something interesting. Also, it was important to lap in the wet, as I think we improved the setup for those conditions, so I’m really happy with that. Physically I’m OK, I just felt a little back ache on the first day, like in Laguna Seca, but it wasn’t an issue. Now we’ll take some time off to recharge ahead of the next challenge.”

Taking on the German circuit for the first time, Melandri spent the test understanding the layout to ensure he won’t start on the back foot when the series resumes action at Lausitzring in three weeks time. Happy to have also had some wet track time, the Misano race two winner still has some work to do but is happy with the initial steps made.

Melandri explains: “It was an important test for us, mostly because I didn’t know the track and it would have been really difficult to be competitive in Friday’s free-practice sessions without a reference. The track itself is fun, but it’s not an easy one to learn because the corner radiuses are a bit peculiar and most of all because the bumps force you to take unusual lines. Still, we managed to almost complete our work load. We just lacked a bit of time towards the end to fine-tune the details, but it was also important to lap in the rain. This track has little grip in the wet, so it’s a good benchmark, and we found a good feeling in these conditions. As the rain started to intensify, we decided not to take risks and ended our session. It’s been two challenging days, but we laid some good foundations to start from during the race weekend.”

Follow the teams pace from 18^th – 20^th August all on WorldSBK.com with the WorldSBK VideoPass, which will provide all racing action as well as insight into the riders thoughts over the weekend of the German Round.