The Ducati Superbike Team celebrated its first ‘double podium’ of the season at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal yesterday, when factory riders Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies crossed the line in second and third place respectively in the afternoon’s second Superbike race.
 
The last time two Ducati riders took to the podium together was in 2012, at Misano, when Giugliano closed third behind then teammate Carlos Checa, second.
 
As round 8 draws to a close, Davies is in sixth position in the general standings, with 159 points, while Giugliano follows, seventh, with 140 points. Ducati lies fourth in the manufacturer’s classification with 207 points.
 
Davide Giugliano: “I’m really pleased. After race one I was confident that I could make a strong second race, also if it were dry, inside the top five at least. After a few problems in warm-up this morning, in race 1 we worked out what we needed to do for race 2 and although that race then turned out to be wet, that turned out to be ok too. You always have to be a bit careful in the wet of course, so I took it easy through the opening laps, it was tough because visibility wasn’t great. Then I started to get into a rhythm and pass a couple of riders. In the final stages I eased off a little, as I didn’t want to make any mistakes. I’m really happy to have closed second, and also very pleased for Ducati, my technicians here at the track but also everyone working back in Borgo Panigale, thanks everyone!”
 
Chaz Davies:“It really means a lot to get a podium in the wet, something I’ve not achieved before, not in Superbike nor Supersport, and for Davide to be there too is really an important result for Ducati today. Race 1 wasn’t easy, I didn’t feel that the bike was quite right. Things were beginning to improve though, and got interesting right when the incident with Leon took place. It was simply a racing incident, I was slightly wider than usual and he saw the gap and went for it… We’d planned to make changes for race 2 if it had been dry, but in the end those changes worked in the wet. It was going ok in the early stages, I struggled a little before starting to build my pace. After the Aprilias went down,  I just put my head down and went after the podium. I really enjoyed the final lap, though I was truly on the limit - it also turned out to be the fastest lap of the race. We will definitely go to Laguna Seca in high spirits now.”