Italian MotoGP: Marco Melandri baffled by Ducati woes

Marco Melandri claims he is at a loss to solve the problems that have turned his factory Ducati dream into a nightmare in the early part of 2008.

Preparing for what is likely to be a tough home race in Mugello this weekend, the former world 250 champion has struggled severely to adapt to the Ducati GP8.

A best of fifth place in Shanghai earlier this month failed to spark a dramatic revival in fortunes for the under fire Italian, who said he is getting increasingly frustrated at being unable to make big progress in helping him adjust to the Ducati GP8.

Melandri said: “It has been much more difficult than I expected. For me now I don’t have any kind of feeling with the rear tyre so I can’t understand what problems I’m having with the bike. We move the weight but nothing changes.

“The feeling is different but the lap time is the same. I thought I would find some problems but I was ready to work hard to get a good result.

“Unfortunately I haven’t found a good feeling with the bike and it is difficult for me to be fast. We have tried many different solutions about weight distribution but nothing changed with my feeling with the bike.

“We tried many different Bridgestone tyres but for me the result is always the same. Hopefully it can be a different story this weekend.

“It has been difficult. I had many races starting from the last row and this is the first time this happened in my life. So that has been very frustrating. We have to find the solution.”