Guigliano looks to Imola

The sixth round of the World Superbike championship took place today at the “Autodromo Internacional do Algarve” in Portimao. Clear skies and a dry track for today’s two races which saw Davide Giugliano start from the fourth row, due to a Superpole that was conditioned by a crash in the final stages.

In race one the Althea Racing rider made a good start and was able to make some passes that brought him close to the leading group. Unfortunately during the course of lap six Davide was the victim of a crash and although he wasn’t hurt he was sadly forced to retire from the race. This was a real pity because the Althea rider was riding a strong race and would surely have scored a great result.

In race two he made another strong start and was lying seventh in the first phase. A small mistake caused him tolose a few positions and although he was able to push to make up lost ground he was unable to find a rhythm that would allow him to do better than final ninth position. In the general standings Giugliano is in ninth place with 79 points.

The next round of the World SBK Championship is scheduled for 30 June at the Imola circuit in Italy.

Genesio Bevilacqua: “The weekend did not live up to expectations, it’s been difficult. In race one today Davide wasn’t at ease on the track and committed an error that put him out of the race. The second race was also hard. Davide soon lost confidence in the rear tyre and the situation gradually worsened which meant that he had to settle for ninth place. I think that the team worked in the right way, but this track is certainly not easy and it’s also for this reason that the results don’t match up to our true abilities. We’re looking ahead and preparing for Imola where we’ll race in front of our fans.”

Davide Giugliano: “It’s been a really difficult weekend in which we’ve worked a lot but gained little. I wasn’t comfortable with my bike on this track and yesterday’s crash in Superpole and today’s crash in the race certainly didn’t help matters. In race 2 I wasn’t able to push hard and made a small mistake that caused me to lose ground. At that point I tried to get to the end of the race without further errors. I want to turn the page and start thinking about Imola straight away; I hope to be back on form there. A big thank-you to my team that have worked as hard as ever here.”

Portimao – 9 June 2013 – World Superbike championship

Race 1 – 1) Melandri (BMW) – 2) Guintoli (Aprilia) – 3) Sykes (Kawasaki) - 4) Camier (Suzuki) – 5) Baz (Kawasaki) – 6) Davies (BMW) – 7) Fabrizio (Aprilia) – 8) Cluzel (Suzuki) ……….. DNF ) Giugliano (Aprilia)

Race 2 - 1) Laverty (Aprilia) – 2) Guintoli (Aprilia) – 3) Rea (Honda) – 4) Baz (Kawasaki) – 5) Davies (BMW) – 6) Checa (Ducati) – 7) Cluzel (Suzuki) – 8) Badovini (Ducati) – 9) Giugliano (Aprilia)