Giugliano and the Ducati Superbike team pumped over first season pole

A strong performance for Davide Giugliano (in photo) and the Ducati Superbike Team in today’s fifth Superpole of the 2014 Superbike season at Donington Park as, in wet conditions, Davide Giugliano snatched his first pole of the season. Having suffered an electric problem in the final stages, his teammate Chaz Davies qualified eleventh for tomorrow’s races.

This morning’s free practice was held in wet conditions, with the team using the 45-minute session to adapt its 1199 Panigale bikes to the slippery track ahead of the Superpole. Thanks to yesterday’s timed practice results, both Ducati Superbike men qualified directly for today’s second Superpole session.

Today’s Superpole took place in cold and very wet conditions (air temperature 14°C, track 13°C). Giugliano stayed out on track for the entire session and was gradually able to increase the pace with his 1199 Panigale. His penultimate lap proved to be the fastest of them all, a 1’44.903 that projected him to the top of the timesheets. The Ducati Superbike man then crashed in the final seconds but none of his rivals were able to beat his impressive time and he was fortunately unhurt. Thanks to his impressive performance today, Giugliano thus qualifies in first place for tomorrow’s races, earning his first pole of the season (and second of his career).

Chaz also opted to remain out on track for the duration of the session and was improving his rhythm when an electric problem regarding the gear sensor caused a malfunction which got increasingly worse in the final minutes. As a result of this technical problem, Davies will line up on the fourth row of the grid, eleventh, for his ‘home’ races tomorrow.

“I would like to dedicate this, the second pole of my career, to my whole team but also to the family of Andrea Antonelli," Giugliano said. "My first Superpole came in Moscow last year but was followed by the tragic accident, so I therefore wish to dedicate this to Andrea's family. That said, I’m really pleased with today’s result and thank my entire team; we’ve worked well all weekend and I had a really good feeling all day today. Tomorrow’s races won’t be easy, regardless of whether conditions are wet or dry. My rivals are strong here so I think we’re in for two hard-fought races.”

Ducati