Melandri unhappy with hard wet tyres

Prior to the accident, which did severe damage to his main Hayate Kawasaki, the Italian had been on course for a solid top ten start, but he subsequently fell from eighth on the grid to 13th.

"It was very difficult," he told Italia1. "Unfortunately Bridgestone brought some very hard rain tyres that were difficult to bring up to temperature.

"It was difficult for me because it was the first time I was running with the Kawasaki with so much water, so we struggled a bit. We lost half the session to understand we needed to go very soft with the suspension, but when we found an acceptable set-up I immediately started to go a bit better, but we should have worked a bit on engine braking.

"But with tyres as hard as this, it was important to go on and try to get temperature into them and find a good feeling.

"Unfortunately I went down and when I switched bike and rejoined there was no feeling anymore. I had no confidence in the bike, I tried to warm up the tyres but it was worthless."

Although Melandri has often had to rely on changeable weather to impress this year as the factory bikes develop faster than the Hayate machine, he is confident that he can be competitive even if conditions clear up tomorrow.

"We've improved a bit and done a good job," he said. "This morning in the dry I had a good pace, so it will be interesting, because it's important to find the right tyre and to find the set-up that allows you to save the tyre.

"We'll see. Many riders were quick for just a few laps, so the rhythm will be a bit different. The weather forecast is uncertain, so we'll see tomorrow what kind of race we'll have."