After scoring his first win of the 2016 season yesterday, Chaz Davies did the double in Aragon. Third at the start, the Welshman took the lead during lap two and once again galloped away from the opponents, posting the race best lap in the meantime with a 1:51.053.
Davide Giugliano, on the other hand, had a bittersweet race. The Italian struggled with grip once again and was slowed down by a temporary technical problem during lap seven, when he moved from fifth to eighth position, but still managed to recover ground and finish strong.
At the end of Round 03, Davies and Giugliano are respectively in second (105 points) and fifth (56 points) place in the championship, while Ducati is second in the Manufacturer rankings with 115 points. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will be back on track in two weeks’ time in Assen for the fourth round of the season.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 1st
“This weekend feels like a dream. The bike was competitive from the get-go, and we only made small tweaks. The technical upgrades brought here have given us what we needed. In Thailand I could only stay in the slipstream, while here I’ve been able to pass my opponents also on the straight. In Assen, however, we will start from scratch. The season has just begun, and things can change quite quickly, but I’m really happy with our overall package. It’s my third year with Ducati, and I witnessed a constant growth. Now the list of things to improve is really short, and I want to thank everybody in the team and the factory for the amount of work put in.”
Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #34) – 6th
“It hasn’t been an easy round for me. We struggled with several issues since Friday, especially grip and, given also the new format, we weren’t able to get adequately prepared for the races. The good thing is that, despite this, we never gave up and managed to collect some good points. There still are many rounds left in the season, we’ll definitely have our chances to shine and I expect to make good strides in Assen. I also want to congratulate Chaz, he always rides fantastically here and he showed that the Panigale R is a winning machine. Now it’s time for us to make the most of its potential as well.”
Stefano Cecconi, Team Principal and CEO of Aruba S.p.A
“We were confident to be more competitive once the championship returned to Europe, and the job done during the tests this week boosted our hopes further, but this weekend went beyond expectations. The Panigale R has improved. With Chaz, we cut back the gap in the championship quite a bit, and we want to put Davide in a position to do the same. We’ll try to be even faster in Assen.”
