A fantastic race for Giugliano who takes second at Laguna Seca

The second race of the twelfth round of the World Superbike Champoionship took place today at the Laguna Seca Mazda Raceway in California. In yesterday’s race Davide Giugliano and team Althea Racing put in a solid performance, closing in sixth place, after a difficult race that was interrupted twice by red flags. After this morning’s warm-up, in which Giugliano recorded the fastest time (1’23”927), the race got underway at 2pm local time and ran over 26 laps on a dry track and in sunny conditions. Having qualified sixth in yesterday’s Superpole, the Althea rider started today’s race from the second row of the grid. He made a good start and was lying in fifth place during the initial laps. On lap three Giugliano passed Davies to move into fourth position. By lapping fast and avoiding mistakes, the Althea rider was able to record the fastest lap of the race on lap seven (1’23”707), also passing Guintoli to move into third place. With grit and determination, Davide chased Laverty and at the mid-race point he was able to pass him and move up to second place. He held this position until the final stages. At two laps from the end of the race, Laverty passed both Giugliano and then Sykes, taking the lead, but the Althea rider didn’t give up and passed Sykes, positioning himself right behind leader Laverty. On the final lap Davide stuck with the factory rider but was unable to pass him, nevertheless closing the race in a fantastic second position.

It was one of the most thrilling races of the 2013 season and it was team Althea’s rider, scoring second place, who made it so spectacular. The next round of the World Superbike championship will take place in a week’s time at Magny-Cours in France.

Davide Giugliano: “I’m so very happy! It was an amazing race and I battled first with Sykes and then with Laverty. I think we have done a great job here at Laguna, both me and my team. We have obtained a great result after a few disappointing results in previous races and so this is very satisfying. We have demonstrated that when everyone works well together and with the right mentality anything is possible. I thank my entire team that has worked so hard this weekend and also my family and my girlfriend Claudia who is always here for me. Now we must continue like this. From now until the end of the season we hope to take more strong results. I thought it would be hard to be in the front but now I realise that I could have won this race. A mistake made out of inexperience and that will serve well on another occasion.”