The Ducati Superbike Team and its riders Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano are France-bound for the penultimate round of the 2014 Superbike World Championship, taking place this weekend at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.

The Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, located in the Burgundy region of central France, has been a regular fixture on the SBK calendar each year since 2003 but due to the fact that the event traditionally takes place late in the season, the French race weekend is often conditioned by inclement weather. During last season’s event at the Magny-Cours circuit, Giugliano crossed the line in fourth place in both races, while Davies’ took a fifth place finish in race 2. With only one round remaining after this weekend, both Ducati Superbike riders will be aiming to collect as many championship points as possible before the season’s end.

Chaz Davies: “I’ve had a few issues during race weekends at Magny-Cours in the past, whether technical or weather-related, but it will definitely be nice to get riding again after this fairly long break. I’ve heard positive things about the test sessions that the development team carried out last week. The guys are working hard back in Italy and I think we might have a few small things to try out this weekend in terms of the balancing of weight. I’m fairly happy with my base set-up but we can afford to play a little with settings. There are certain sections of the track, like the fast changes in direction, which should suit the Panigale, and braking at the end of the straight is another strong point so I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we can do.”

Davide Giugliano: “Magny-Cours is a great track that’s been pretty favourable to me in the past. I enjoy racing there. There is a technical section where we should be able to make the most of the Panigale’s potential and then even though there is a long straight, thanks to all our hard work I hope that the gap is a manageable one. The test team worked hard on some new set-ups at Mugello, so it will be interesting to see if there’s something that we can use this weekend. The only question mark is, as usual, the weather, but that’s standard at this time of year so we just have to prepare as well as we can.”