Ducati’s Davide Giugliano has continued his rich run of pace through World Superbike free practice at Misano, taking top spot in the final timed session to go into this afternoon’s Superpole at the top of the sheets.
The Italian put in a 1’36.125 late in the session to edge out compatriot Marco Melandri on the works Aprilia but by less than a tenth of a second but so far no-one has gone under Carlos Checa’s lap record and the pace is still a second away from Troy Corser’s outright best from 2011 of 1’35.001.
Melandri had been in control until the final minutes, topping team-mate Sylvain Guintoli’s 1’36.341 with a 1’36.211 of his own while Loris Baz stuck his Kawasaki in fourth place on the combined timesheets with five minutes left.
Chaz Davies, on the second works Panigale is the leading British rider, dropping his time by more than two-tenths from yesterday to head reigning World Champion Tom Sykes by less than a tenth but Sykes couldn’t improve on his time from yesterday.
Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam, who is again beset by electronics problems, finished in sixth place on a 1’36.589 and is less than half a second off the pace while Alex Lowes was appreciably slower this morning than his time from yesterday so sits in eighth.
Jonathan Rea, on the second Fireblade, did improve with a 1’36.875 but a technical problem on last run ensured he didn’t go any quicker, finishing in ninth and one place ahead of Eugene Laverty, who just scraped his Voltcom Suzuki into an automatic Superpole two place.
Nico Canepa and the returning Sylvain Barrier will top qualifying one with former MCE British Superbike man and Misano wildcard Matteo Baiocco chasing them. Christian Iddon is still struggling for pace but found a second overnight to set a 1’38.170 to finish in 21st.
