The World Superbike Championship tests, which ended yesterday in Barcelona, featured a presence that did not go unnoticed – Marco Melandri. Despite having a career as a rider for manufacturers such as Ducati or Yamaha, and also Kawasaki, whose team he was with now – more specifically with Axel Bassani.
The former rider spoke about this partnership speaking to the SPEEDWEEK.com website: ‘I’m trying to help Axel in every way. I look at how he rides on the track, but also how he works with the team. He is young and the transition from a private team to a factory team is significant. Axel asked me in the winter if I could work with him, but I don’t want to travel anymore. After Phillip Island, he called me again, and the test here was a good opportunity to try. Tests are more relaxed, so I had time to get to know him’.
Melandri already knew some of the current members of Kawasaki and took advantage of the test to check the communication within the garage and the technical aspect, trying to ‘translate the comments’ of Bassani to his crew chief, Marcel Duinker. Despite this presence in Barcelona, the Italian has no plans to be regularly with Bassani: ‘It may be possible for me to be in some races. I don’t have a plan. I love this championship, but I don’t want to travel anymore. I’m tired after 22 years’.