Aruba Ducati’s Marco Melandri wrapped up his second WorldSBK test on the factory Panigale happy with his pace on old tyres but says he still needs to find some outright speed on a new tyre.

The almost-veteran Italian clocked 161 laps at Jerez in wet and dry conditions, and acknowledges the rest of the field is able to get more out of a qualifying tyre but believes that more time and some setup work - plus something new next year - could remedy that.

“I’m happy with the way these tests went. We tried several upgrades for the 2017-spec of the bike, with positive feedback, even though we need to make further evaluations especially in wet conditions. Everyday I feel more comfortable on the Panigale R, and our pace is quite good. We’re not far from the front,” he said, after finishing half a second behind team-mate Chaz Davies.

“I think many riders are pretty fast on the new tyres and for me it’s a weak point, so I have to work a bit more to try to find a good setup with the bike to use the extra bit of the new tyre.

 “I’m working now on race pace and it looks not so bad, so I’m pretty happy about that. Still we have to try something new on the bike for 2017. Then in January I want to have a long run with a race simulation to just understand what I have to work on a bit more and where I’m okay.

“It has been a good testing for me and day-by-day, I’m feeling better on my Ducati Panigale, so I’m really looking forward to the first round in February but we still have some work to do.”