Marco Melandri has written on his Facebook profile that he will be present at the official night test this weekend in Qatar and will be joining the other Motogp riders after his appearance at the SpeedCar Series in Dubai, the 27th and 28th of February.
Melandri will be riding the updated version Kawasaki ZX-RR, the same one he tested at Valencia and Phillip Island before Kawasaki’s pullout.
The Italian had previously excluded the idea of using this version of Kawasaku, but Melandri being Melandri, has changed his mind serveral times as the Kawasaki-Dorna soap opera has played out and obviously the rider would perfer not to sit out this season and hopes for better prospects for 2010.
According to his words this does not mean that Melandri will race at all costs :“ For the moment I’ll try the bike at Losail and we’ll then evaluate the situation after the test – if the bike is a disaster, then everyone will go home.
There is no news regarding John Hopkins and his future, his personal website has not been updated since New Year’s Eve and according to Marco Melandri Hopkins has chosen not to get involved and has given up and that the Anglo-American rider is more interested in money than racing for nothing.