With the echoes of Italian glory still ringing for the Ducati team, riders Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano are heading to Sepang International Circuit for the nest Round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. The circuit was the stage of a last lap move by Chaz Davies in 2015 to take victory in Race 2 over Jonathan Rea, after coming home second to the Northern Irishman in Race 1.

Last year, Davies’ Panigale R was the sole Aruba.it bike on track due to Davide Giugliano’s injury in Laguna Seca. The Italian, who showed progress in Imola to finish the two races in fifth and fourth place respectively, will have his sister bike as an important benchmark to gauge the progressive improvement of his setup and get even closer to the top.

“We head to Sepang with good momentum, following two great results in Italy,” said Davies. “In the last races, we’ve found a quite versatile setup that works on different tracks and allows me to ride close to the limit without passing it. The bike also reacts well to each change we make, and usually we know exactly where to intervene to improve. We need to stay on this course to further cut the gap in the championship. In Sepang, in 2015, we scored an unexpected win. This year, the track has been resurfaced and I heard the banking changed in some corners, so it will be a somewhat new track for everyone and there will be more variables to take into account. After racing in Europe for most of the spring, it will be nice to go back to hot weather for a change.”

“Given our results at Imola, I think we finally laid down some cornerstones in terms of the setup of my Panigale R,” added Giugliano. “We certainly are not at the end of the road since there is still a gap to recover, but especially in Race 2 I was able to ride the way I wanted to, without experiencing any particular issues and getting a good feedback from my bike. From lap 7 on I was really competitive, but we lost too much time early on and we need to address this issue. It’s surprising, because in the past I used to struggle in the second half of races and now it seems to be the opposite. I only raced once in Sepang, in 2014, but the recent upgrades somewhat make it a new track for everyone. We head there with confidence, we just need to keep working methodically on our basis, without rushing things.”

The Ducati duo will be out on the new track surface for the first time on Friday 13^th May at Sepang International Circuit.