Nevers (France), Friday 3 October 2014 – almost one month after the conclusion of the last round at Jerez, Davide Giugliano and the Ducati Superbike Team returned to the tracks today, at the French circuit of Magny-Cours, with determination, closing day one at the top of the timesheets.
In the weekend’s first timed practice session, which took place this morning in dry conditions, the two Ducati Superbike men quickly got to work setting up their 1199 Panigale bikes together with their technicians. This weekend, Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies can benefit from a series of new solutions that were tested by the development team during recent tests held at Mugello. The riders therefore used today’s sessions to introduce and test the various updates. Giugliano finished the first timed practice in sixth position with a best of 1’39.107 while Davies closed in eleventh place (1’39.842).
Second practice took place in similar conditions, which allowed almost all of the Superbike riders to improve on times set during the morning. Thanks to a series of fast laps, Giugliano projected himself into first position mid-session, recording a best time of 1’37.866 (over a second quicker than his best time of the morning), a position that he then held until the day’s end, closing three tenths of a second ahead of second-placed Laverty. Davies, continuing the work to adapt his 1199 Panigale, closed day one in eighth place, with a fastest lap of 1’38.747.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Davide Giugliano – (Ducati Superbike Team #34) – 1st (1’37.866)
“I’m pleased with how today has gone. We’ve tested some of the updates that the guys worked on during recent test sessions at Mugello and I must say that my feeling is positive. There haven’t been any huge revolutions but the changes seem to be making a difference. This afternoon, we were able to make a series of ten laps with consistently fast times and this is a good sign, although there’s more to do in order to be ready for the 21-lap races of course. My Panigale is working well and we seem to be in a good position right now – I hope this continues…”
Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 8th (1’38.747)
“This morning things didn’t feel particularly great, as we were struggling to get the bike settled on corner entry but we improved this during the second session and introduced some of the solutions used at last week’s tests. My feeling with the bike is pretty different and we had to make some tweaks to the bike to suit these new parts during the session but I think we’re going in the right direction. It’s not really easy to turn the bike through the tight corners yet but this is something we’ll continue to work on tomorrow. Let’s say we still have work to do.”
