Losail (Qatar), Saturday 1 November 2014 – Back on track at the Losail International Circuit today, Davide Giugliano and the Ducati Superbike Team consolidated yesterday’s strong performance by qualifying in first position for the final two races of the 2014 Superbike season! Chaz Davies will line up in fourth place on tomorrow’s race grid.
In hot and dry conditions very similar to yesterday (air temperature 29°C, track temperature 34°C), Davies and Giugliano were out on track at 6pm local time for the free practice session. The two Ducati Superbike men took advantage of the 30-minute session, using it to make final adjustments to their 1199 Panigale bikes ahead of the final Superpole of the 2014 season. The riders finished the session seventh (Davies) and eighth (Giugliano).
Superpole 2 – the two Ducati riders made a first exit with the race tyre. Giugliano, making just one lap, immediately moved to the top of the timesheets thanks to a time of 1’57.878. Chaz made two laps, the second of which was the fastest, and was lying sixth at mid-session. Returning to the track with the qualifying tyre, each of the factory riders completed one fast lap apiece. Chaz, who completed a fast, clean lap in 1’57.562, earned himself a position on the second row, in fourth place, for tomorrow’s 17-lap races, missing out on a front row start by only 94 thousandths of a second.
Giugliano, despite being affected by a rider crashing just ahead of him, was able to complete a record-breaking lap. Stopping the clock on 1’57.033, he scored both pole position and a new ‘best lap’, lowering by more than two tenths the time set by Spies back in 2009. This is the second time that the Italian rider will start from pole position this season, and marks his eighth front row start. Davide’s great results in the Superpole this year, combined with today’s pole, mean that he closes in overall second position in the Tissot-Superpole standings, just 14 points behind winner Sykes.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team #34) – 1st (1’57.003)
“Of course I’m really pleased to have scored pole and I was able to make the most of both the race and qualifying tyres. It’s important to start on the front row but it’s even more important to be consistent during the races. I’m a little worried about our race pace because to be honest we have concentrated more on my feeling with the bike. I’m happy that, despite the difficult conditions and a few problems, we have been able to work well and achieve this significant result this evening. I thank my team that is working so hard in these extreme conditions – we’re focused on tomorrow’s races, in which I will do all I can to close the 2014 season in a positive way.”
Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 4th (1’57.562)
“The Superpole went fairly well; our aim was to qualify on the front two rows so we’ve done that, only narrowly missing out on the front row. The important thing for tomorrow is to decide on the rear tyre and try to do something to improve the grip, which seemed to be more of an issue than yesterday. This morning both Davide and I seemed to suffer a little more than some of the other guys and the bike felt different to me so we need to understand why. Anyway we’ll make some changes during tomorrow’s warm-up and see what we can do in the races.”
