After taking the third step of the podium in Race 1 with Chaz Davies, the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team stepped back on the rostrum in Race 2 with Davide Giugliano. Heavy rainfalls mixed things up for the WorldSBK championship riders, who only lapped in dry conditions until then. Both Davies and Giugliano still managed to be competitive from early on, quickly coming through the field to claim provisional third and fourth position. The pair then passed championship leader Rea with six laps to go and engaged in a spectacular, fair duel.
During lap 12, Giugliano passed his teammate and barely missed a comeback victory on Hayden, who finished only one second ahead. Davies fought fiercely for the podium, defending it until two laps to go, and was eventually fourth under the checkered flag also due to some front-end issues. At the end of round 6, Davies and Giugliano respectively sit in 2nd (215 points) and fifth place (118 points) in the championship, while Ducati is second in the Manufacturers standings (232 points). The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will be back on track in Donington (U.K.) for the seventh round of the WorldSBK championship on May 27-29.
Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #34) – 2nd
“I’m very happy, because the race was both fun and solid for us. After the first few laps, we found a good pace and towards the end I wanted to try to pass Hayden and win, but it would have been risky and I didn’t want to exaggerate. It was very important for me to step back on the podium after a few races below expectations. We’ve made steps forward throughout the weekend, and even in the dry I believe we would have been more competitive, so we need to stay on this path. I want to thank the whole team for not stopping to believe in me in the most difficult times.”
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 4th
“It was a strange race, because with 7 laps to go I thought we could win but the next lap I realized we were in trouble. The track conditions were pretty homogeneous, so the tyres were not too difficult to manage, but we struggled with grip in corner exit. I had to work the front quite a bit to make up for that, and its performance dropped all of a sudden. I’m semi-happy with the final outcome. Obviously I would have liked to have done more, but we were in contention for most of the race. In wet races anything can happen, and we only lost 3 points in the championship. We’ll move forward in Donington.”
Ernesto Marinelli, Superbike Project Director
“I’m very happy for Davide’s second place, it was really important for him and the team to have a strong weekend after a few difficult races. It was crucial especially to keep going in the right direction, and I think we achieved that. Overall, we can be satisfied. It surely has been a weekend full of question marks but, as for Chaz, while it’s true that we lost some points in the championship, we can say we limited the damage to finish both races in a good position and bring home important points.”
