While team-mate
Casey Stoner was locked in a thrilling battle for second with
Valentino Rossi throughout the closing stages of Sunday's Catalan Grand Prix,
Marco Melandri was almost one minute behind - fighting to defend eleventh.
A Shanghai fifth has been the sole highlight of a demoralising start to Melandri's factory Ducati career and the Italian now insists that nothing less than a 'massive change' is needed.
"It's fair to say that things went as well as could be expected after practice," Marco said of the race. "I got a decent start considering how far back I was and ended the first lap in ninth or tenth place, but I couldn't hold on to it.
"There wasn't much I could do because I was losing so much time in the long corners and it was easy for the other riders to pass me. Now we have two days of tests to see if we can take any steps forward but we need to make a massive change. We'll keep trying," he added.
"Marco is clearly in a difficult situation [to Casey]," said Ducati Corse general director Filippo Preziosi. "There are a lot of things to work on - some problems have been ironed out but obviously there are plenty that haven't."
A prototype version of the 2009 Desmosedici will be present at the Catalunya test - and is expected to be ridden at some stage by both Stoner and Melandri.
If it provides the kind of 'massive change' Melandri is seeking then there is surely little to lose by allowing Marco to 'race-develop' the machine as soon as practically possible.
