Reigning 250GP World Champion Marco Simoncelli could be set for his World Superbike debut at Imola this weekend after completing the first part of a two-day test on the Aprilia RSV4 at Mugello today.

The-big haired Italian, who will move to Gresini Honda with Marco Melandri in MotoGP next season, put in a decent number of laps and, according to people who were there with a stop-watch, set laptimes around the 1'54.2 mark.

In comparison, fellow 250cc man Mattia Pasini who was testing the Ducati GP9 MotoGP bike at the same time, clocked a quickest lap of 1'52.8, calling the Desmosedici "fun", not something you have heard Nicky Hayden brand it.

Simoncelli has a 40-point deficit on Hiro Aoyama in his series, with only a handful of races to make up, so a ride in WSB wouldn't be out of the question at Imola as his chances of taking the 250GP title are slim. He could replace the injured Shinya Nakano, who is out for the next two rounds, but that jon may fall to development rider Alex Hofmann.

He also tested the bike pre-season, but Aprilia couldn't provide him with a bike to ride at Phillip Island.