Melandri leads Ducati charge against Rea at Aragon

Click here for FP2 results from Aragon.

Marco Melandri has taken top spot honours from Jonathan Rea in the second free practice session at Aragon as the pace hots up in dry conditions.

Melandri leads Ducati charge against Rea at Aragon

Click here for FP2 results from Aragon.

Marco Melandri has taken top spot honours from Jonathan Rea in the second free practice session at Aragon as the pace hots up in dry conditions.

The Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider lost his World Superbike championship lead to Rea last time out in Thailand but the double race winner from Phillip Island looks set for a fightback by topping FP2 as the Aragon circuit dried out from the overnight rain that dampened the first session.

As the pace sharpened in the final minutes of the second session, Melandri’s 1m 50.652s saw him edge out Rea by just 0.039s while the triple World Superbike champion’s Kawasaki teammate Tom Sykes also closed in with his final lap giving him third place less than two-tenths of a second off of Melandri.

Chaz Davies had been leading the times for the majority of FP2 for the factory Ducati squad and despite being up in sector one on his final flying lap the Welsh rider lost out in sector two and failed to improve which shuffled him down to fourth.

Davies did see off Pata Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark in fifth with local Spanish riders rising up the order with MV Agusta’s Jordi Torres in sixth and Barni Ducati’s Xavi Fores seventh. The two home favourites split the factory Yamaha pair with Alex Lowes in eighth place while Aruba.it Racing Ducati junior rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi claiming ninth on his debut World Superbike race weekend.

Lorenzo Savadori saw off a late challenge from stand-in Milwaukee Aprilia teammate Davide Giugliano, with the Italian replacing the injured Eugene Laverty, with the pair split by half a second at the end of FP2 while Leon Camier led the Red Bull Honda fight in 12th.

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