Giugliano builds his way back into WSBK

In making a return to the track after recovery from what was his second vertebrae injury of the 2015 season, Aruba.it Racing Ducati WSBK rider Davide Giugliano has had to ease his way back into action at Jerez.

“For the moment my physical condition is OK, but I could not train like normal,” said Giugliano. “I am not strong in my forearms but it is just tiredness; not numbness or arm pump. In the months I have been stopped it was not possible to go to the swimming pool, to ride the bicycle but now I am happy. My back is OK, and I am building back confidence with my bike.”

As well as finding his personal confidence and getting back into the racing groove after many months off, Giugliano also found an official Ducati Panigale which was been much changed in his absence.

“My bike now is very different,” he affirmed. “This is the most difficult for me. I am back on my bike and it feels very different. The electronics especially, and even my crew is different.”

There have been background changes in the Ducati pit-boxes, with Giugliano now having two main points of contact to help him evolve into a race winner and not just a fast rider.

“I am very happy for this change and now I have Aligi Deganello and Paolo Biasio. They were world champions with Sylvain Guintoli and Max Biaggi. For me this is a very high step, I think, and Aligi has a lot of experience. This is important for my mind and for my work.”

Giugliano, who has the pace of any of his rivals at times, appeared to make the same mistakes over and over in the past couple of years, but after his latest big crash he seems to have made a personal realisation.

“The difficult thing for me last year was probably the mentality for the races,” confessed Giugliano. “I thought only one way – I was going on the track and going fast. It was not possible for me to think, “now I work on overtakes, now I work for the chassis problem.” It was not possible for me to think like this. I was just happy when I went very fast. But now I know, for winning, this mentality was an error.”