As the WorldSBK riders returned to action on Friday in Germany there were mixed fortunes for the Aruba.it Racing-Ducati team.

Chaz Davies (1’37.656) rode well during the afternoon practice session to end the day in fourth, but his teammate Davide Giugliano (1’38.575) finished 13th in FP2 so will therefore look graduate to Tissot-Superpole 2 on Saturday morning.

At the end of July both Davies and Giugliano rode at the 4.25km circuit in a two-day test and they will hope the data and experienced gathered will assist them as the weekend progresses.

Davies reviewed the day saying, “It was pretty good. It was a case of getting back into the groove this morning. We went out and I thought I don’t want to do anything too stupid so just get back into it and see how things feel. Obviously the last time I rode was at the test a few weeks ago so we just worked hard throughout the day. We made some progress and I’m pretty happy. At the end there it was pretty hectic and everyone was on track looking for somebody to follow. It was busy out there and I didn’t really get a clean lap, but I have qualified for Superpole 2 so I’m happy with that.”

The Welshman’s Italian colleague Giugliano, meanwhile, commented, “Today proved to be more difficult than what we expected. The Lausitz track is quite peculiar, both in terms of the layout and tarmac conditions. Despite the tests done here, we’ve encountered some issues with the overall balance of the bike. We’re looking at the data to bring out once again our strong suits, which allowed us to make a difference many times in the past. Tomorrow the weather could change and, given also our competitiveness in the rain, things could turn into our favour.”