Giugliano leads Day 1 over Melandri and Laverty
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) was the quickest rider in today's Qualifying 1 for eni FIM Superbike World Championship. The 23 year old from Rome moved up on top of the charts with six minutes left by lapping in 1'42.374s, heading the field right to the end of the session. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) tried to fight off his fellow Italian in the late stages, eventually settling for second ahead of Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team).
The Irishman had a small crash early on but he was able to get back to the track to climb the timesheets up to third, likewise team mate Sylvain Guintoli, fifth at the flag. Fourth place Toni Elias (Red Devils Aprilia), fastest rider in free practice today, lost control of his RSV4 at Turn 12 just few moments afterwards, though he was unable to rejoin.
Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) put up an impressive performance, considering his physical condition, and finished sixth, followed by Championship leader Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), One Event rider Lorenzo Lanzi (Mesaroli Transports A.S. Ducati) and works BMW rider Chaz Davies. Davies' one-off team mate and WSBK debutant Sylvain Barrier ended up 16th despite a technical problem occurred with few minutes left.
