Davide Giugliano finished today’s WorldSBK race one at Magny-Cours in eighth place, courtesy of a strong performance on board his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 machine on the drying French circuit. His Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team mate Jake Gagne was forced into a late retirement after fighting for a top-12 result.
Giugliano got an OK launch off sixth place on the grid and, after a few laps needed to adjust to the drying track conditions, he settled into a nice, consistently improving rhythm which allowed him to catch and overtake his former teammate Chaz Davies on lap 14. After losing one place to Laverty five laps later, the 27-year-old Italian managed to maintain eighth position up to the chequered flag. Courtesy of today’s result, Davide will start race two tomorrow from the middle of the second row (fifth place).

Jake Gagne had an encouraging and convincing early part of the race as he made his way up from 18th place on the grid to 12th in only five laps. The young American rider then a small setback on lap 7 which cost him a couple of places and, after staying attached to the group fighting for 12th position, he ran off track on the penultimate lap after experiencing a gear-shifting issue, and retired shortly afterwards. His starting position will not change for race two.

Race two for the French Round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship will get underway tomorrow at 13:00 local time (GMT +2), after the 15-minute warm up scheduled at 9:00.


Davide Giugliano 34 - 8th

It has been a positive race. We had good pace for the full 21 laps and we were able to improve all the way to the chequered flag. It was my first time riding the bike for more than a few laps in wet conditions so there were some things I needed to understand first before I could start pushing harder. The team did a great job in translating my comments and the data into appropriate changes to the bike set-up. Obviously there is still room for improvement, but for a first wet race I’d say it hasn’t been a bad one at all!

Jake Gagne 45 - DNF

It was my first race in wet conditions with this bike and Pirelli tyres, so again there was a lot to learn for me. I’m happy with how I was able to improve my pace lap after lap; the bike is quite different with the wet set-up on but I was able to adjust to that and – despite a small setback in the first half which cost me a couple of places – I was able to run consistently and gather some more experience. My goal was to finish the race – we got really close to it, but unfortunately we had to retire with less than two laps to go. It’s a pity, really, but there’s another race tomorrow to make it right.

Ronald ten Kate - Team Manager

Davide rode a brilliant race. It was clear from Superpole already that he was feeling comfortable with the bike in the wet, but obviously the drying asphalt added a further challenge to the race as the laps went by. Eighth place is a good result – maybe it could have been even better but we’re definitely happy with his performance. His comments were again positive and that shows that we’re working in the right direction. Too bad for Jake’s retirement, but unfortunately the gear-shifting issue he experienced did not allow him to finish the race. He did a good race nevertheless, especially if we consider that it was his first race in wet conditions with Pirelli tyres and this version of the Fireblade. He keeps improving, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he’ll be able to do tomorrow.