After a more difficult first day of racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Aruba.it Racing – Ducati riders Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies that saw both men crash out in separate incidents, a re-started Race 2 saw the red duo fight it out at the front in a bid to stop Kawasaki Racing Team rider Tom Sykes from taking the honours.

Giugliano, a frontrunner throughout the race, got a good start and began the restart from pole after having been leading as the Red Flag came out – and stayed with Sykes to take the fight to the Yorkshireman. Teammate Chaz Davies got a more difficult start and ended up P6 after the initial laps, and hunted down the front group to get involved, staging an incredible battle with Giugliano as the Welshman set his sights on the top step.

“What a fantastic race,” said Giugliano. “I had so much fun, but it’s been difficult both physically and mentally, because it was paramount not to make mistakes while battling against Chaz. We’ve been both fair and I think we made it fun for people on track and at home. For me, to score a podium here is special because last year my season was put to an end in Laguna Seca and my career was almost destroyed. Yesterday was tough for the whole team, both Chaz and I crashed out while fighting for the podium with a good pace, but some small adjustments allowed us to make the most of our current potential. Now we’ll take a break but we won’t stop working to improve.”

“Today went a bit better,” added Davies. “After what happened yesterday, I concentrated on finishing the race first of all, initially focusing just on my rhythm. I wanted to avoid being particularly aggressive early on, but I was stuck in the group at the start and had to ask a lot to the rear tyre to recover on Davide and Tom. I think we could have won today, but I went wide at the Corkscrew, possibly because of the wind, and in the last laps I didn’t have enough grip to try more overtakes. It was important to go into the break with a podium, and we’ll use this time to understand where to improve.”

The duo now head into summer testing and the break, ahead of track action resuming in Germany at Lausitzring in September.