Gresini duo struggle in practice

Marco Melandri was only 16th in the morning after trying in vain to adapt his set-up from the wet French Grand Prix to the Donington conditions. He improved to ninth in the afternoon, but remained nearly two seconds off the pace.

"It's been a difficult day. This morning we started out with the setting from Le Mans but the track conditions were actually very different," said Melandri.

"The track surface is really slippery and the bike was difficult to ride. In the afternoon we went back to the standard chassis, which we had already tested in the wet. I managed to knock three seconds off my best time from the morning but we still have work to do.

"I'm fast in the first half of the track, where I can let the bike run, but I'm struggling in the slower final section, where the power comes on a little more briskly. We'll try and improve that area tomorrow."

Melandri's teammate Toni Elias was only 15th in the combined times.

"The track was really slippery and I didn't feel comfortable on my bike," he said.

"I can't say I'm happy because I'm down on the timesheets, three seconds off the top.

"We're struggling but we'll keep working on the chassis and suspension to see if we can find a better setting for this difficult and technical circuit."