Marco Melandri helping Axel Bassani: ‘I have a lot of experience to help him’

A 22-time WorldSBK race winner, Marco Melandri was in attendance to act as a rider coach for Axel Bassani although no confirmation as to whether this will be a permanent deal has been made.

Melandri was one of the strongest WorldSBK riders on his day, and proved that by being able to beat the likes of Tom Sykes, Chaz Davies and Jonathan Rea. 

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Bassani, who left Ducati to become a factory rider at Kawasaki is one of the most talented riders on the current WorldSBK grid.

However, his adaptation to the ZX10-RR has proved difficult, but Melandri is not worried.

“His speed and talent are there; he has good potential,” Melandri told WorldSBK.com. “He's faster during the race than the test but I think they’ve done a great job.

“Every time he tested something, he could understand what was working and what wasn’t, so this is very important to improve day by day. He can achieve good results.

“Every bike is working in the same way; more or less, when you modify something, they’re the same and their characteristics are the same as each other. 

“That’s why I think I have a lot of experience that I can transfer to help him. I see him like a sponge; every time I spotted something on track, he was taking it on board for the next run. 

“It looks like he takes information well. His motivation is very high and this is a very good point; it’s not always easy so you have to keep it very high.

“His riding style is a good aspect too. He needs time to adapt as he comes from Ducati and it’s a different kind of bike. He’s working in a good way.”

In terms of the Catalunya test, Bassani was only 15th fastest as he finished 1.3 seconds down on Nicolo Bulega’s top time.

Bassani added: “During the day, it was the same as day one; yesterday: we found something in the last three laps which is good because finally, we arrived with a race tyre to do a really good lap, better than with the SCQ.

“We need to start from here to understand things for the race weekend. It’s not easy but it’s part of the job; we are here, we need to test and we’re doing it.

“We found some confidence with the front but we have to work a lot on the rear with the turning on the bike. We’re losing a lot of time in the long corners. 

“I’m looking to do a good Superpole because if you start in P15 or P16, then it’s impossible to fight with the top guys.

“If we start from row two or three, we can fight for a good position.”