Ducati’s Davide Giugliano put in a flying lap at the end of today’s World Superbike second practice session at Misano and put himself on provisional pole for Sunday’s races at the Italian venue. Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes trailed the Italian by .127 of a second with both Giugliano and Sykes displacing FP1 leader Marco Melandri, who ended the day third on the factory Aprilia.
The session was red-flagged twice – the first time when Michael Savary’s MV Agusta caught fire and the second time for oil on track. With 10 minutes left in the session, most of the riders put in their fastest laps. And as is often the case in World Superbike, the field was tightly packed with the top 11 finishing within a second of Giugliano.
Behind Melandri was Giugliano’s teammate Chaz Davies, finishing narrowly ahead of Sykes teammate Loris Baz. In sixth was rookie Alex Lowes on the Voltcom Crescent Suzuki, with the British Superbike champ once again putting in a good effort on a track he had never seen before.
Melandri’s teammate Sylvain Guintoli ended the day in seventh. In eighth and leading the efforts of the Pata Honda team was Jonathan Rea. And rounding out the top 10 was the other man on the Voltcom Crescent Suzuki, Eugene Laverty in ninth and Red Devils Roma Aprilia’s Toni Elias in 10th.
2014 Misano World Superbike
Friday Combined Free Practice Results
1. Davide Giugliano (Ducati) 1:36.370
2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1:36.497
3. Marco Melandri (Aprilia) 1:36.500
4. Chaz Davies (Ducati) 1:36.636
5. Loris Baz (Kawasaki) 1:36.661
6. Alex Lowes (Suzuki) 1:36.698
7. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) 1:36.860
8. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1:37.024
9. Eugene Laverty (Suzuki) 1:37.149
10. Toni Elias (Aprilia) 1:37.234
