After WorldSBK rule changes came in to deprive all the manufacturers of some peak revs in 2018, the high-revving Ducati Panigale was probably deprived of one of its key assets.

Clearly, in winning race one at Phillip Island - after spending much of it behind first Jonathan Rea and then Tom Sykes – Marco Melandri and his Aruba Ducati squad found some missing performance when it mattered most.

It did not look like Melandri would win at one stage, as he and Rea dropped back after a period of closing right up to Sykes, but Melandri found a joke inside his winner’s trophy to explain that he knew he could win it all along.

“For sure I thought I could win, or otherwise I wouldn’t try,” the 21-times race winner told BSN. “Tom had an amazing start and normally he would drop down after a few laps, but today he was pushing so hard. It looked like Tom was Johnny today and Johnny was Tom! Johnny was trying to follow Tom and then he struggled a bit more, moving and making mistakes.

“It was a long time since I saw Johnny making mistakes. But it was difficult to pass him because he was braking so hard in the first turn. Then when I was second the rear tyre dropped down a lot for everyone. This time for me was better because with used tyres, when they were sliding a lot, I could make a big improvement compared to Tom. When I was in front I was thinking he would try to pass me back immediately but luckily I made a little gap and my rhythm was good. But the last lap was very difficult because the tyre was very, very down.”

Marco Melandri was a worried man in winter testing in Europe, and may be again, but Melandri said that PI itself had something to do with his bike catching up to the others.

“This track is the only track we can use the same final ratio as last year,” said Melandri. “We were keeping some gap in sixth gear if the wind was pushing on the straight. For us it is good here. Just for me, going out of T4 and T6, I was using the limiter too much, because it comes in too early when I have too much angle.

“Compared to Johnny and Tom I was losing a lot in T4 and T6. But all the other places where I did not pass the limiter the bike was working good. Maybe some other tracks we can use the same final ratio, but at Jerez and Portimao we struggled a lot.”

Melandri’s bike was shaking and wobbling at times, especially down the straight, and even as he overtook Sykes for the lead. “It is, it is,” said Melandri when told it looked very scary from trackside. “It is very difficult with the crosswind. I think when I try to put weight on the rear I cannot load the front and the bike is moving a lot. Here the wind is gusting, not smooth, and I am struggling even more. But we are working hard on this problem. We used the new profile rear tyre for stability. Grip is not bad on the other one, but it gives me just a little bit more stability on the straight.”