Giugliano makes up for lack of early luck as Gagne improves best WorldSBK result

Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team’s Davide Giugliano and Jake Gagne were 11th and 12th, respectively, at the end of the 21-lap, second encounter of the eleventh WorldSBK round of the season, which was contested today at the ‘Circuit de Nevers, Magny-Cours’ in Central France.

Despite losing a handful of places at the start, Giugliano managed to stay in touch with the leading group but eventually had to run wide to avoid Eugene Laverty after the Irishman highsided at the exit of turn 15. The former STK1000 Champion re-joined at the back of the field in 18th place, from where his steady recovery began. In the final part of the race, the 27-year-old from Rome was able to further improve his speed and showed a top-10 rhythm as he went first past his team mate Gagne on lap 17 for 14th place. He then overtook both West and Andreozzi to seal 11th place at the chequered flag after setting his fastest time of the race on his third-last lap.

Jake Gagne enjoyed a decent start from row six and kept a steady pace in the first half of the encounter as he rounded out the top-15 while trying to get accustomed to racing in intermittent drizzle. The 24-year-old from San Diego then got up to speed and started to log some competitive lap-times as he made his way past some rivals and set his quickest time at the very end of the race, which helped him consolidate 12th place at the line – and set a new personal best result for him in the series.

The penultimate round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship will take place at Spain’s ‘Circuito de Jerez’ in three weekend’s time.

Davide Giugliano

It’s been an unlucky race, because I feel I had the pace to be fighting for a top-6 finish. The realistic goal before the start was to finish between 8th and 11th, but we turned out to be quicker than we expected. It was hard to push when I found myself at the back of the field, because even though I knew I had to make up ground, I was riding on my own so I didn’t know how wet it was on different parts of the circuit and how conditions were evolving throughout the lap. We put together a good comeback, we made some passes and we showed a good pace, so I think there’s a good synergy developing between the bike and myself now. The guys have done an amazing job: I feel that the bike is improving a lot, and that was the reason I was chosen in the first place so I’m happy. The top speed was also excellent today. Obviously there is still a lot to improve, but things are going in the right direction.

Jake Gagne

The big thing for me today is that, unlike MotoAmerica, the flag-to-flag rule means that even if it’s spitting rain, you can still race on slick tyres. This for me was a completely new scenario, so it took me a while to figure out how much I could push in these conditions. Towards the end, I started going faster and faster and I even set my personal fastest time of the whole weekend on the very last lap. Twelfth place is not bad, but I feel I had the potential to do much better today. I’m happy with what I’ve learned and that I was able to improve outing after outing and race after race. I want to thank the whole team because it’s been another amazing experience and I had a lot of fun.

Ronald ten Kate

It was a very interesting second race, especially given the tricky and unpredictable conditions the whole field encountered today. Davide was riding well until he had to take an unwanted trip onto the gravel in order to avoid Eugene when he fell off. This setback made him lose touch with the group fighting for the top-10, which is a shame because it looked like he had the pace to get in the mix up there. He made a good comeback nevertheless so we are happy with this performance. It was the first time for Jake to ride on slicks with rain coming down, because MotoAmerica sporting rules are different in that regard. Once he figured how to ride in these conditions he really improved his pace, so the question mark is on how much more competitive he could have been otherwise. We really enjoyed working with him again.