Aruba Ducati’s Davide Giugliano made one small mistake exiting Honda corner in the final laps of today’s opening World Superbike race at Phillip Island and he believes this cost him the chance of a podium spot in Australia.

The Italian has been at the sharp end all weekend and was battling with not only team-mate Chaz Davies - with whom he traded paint several times - but also both Kawasakis and the Honda of Dutch youngster Michael Van Der Mark.

“It’s been an awesome race, both for us and the fans. This track was associated with bad memories for me, given that I had a bad injury here during the pre-season tests one year ago. Today, I barely missed pole position and fought for the podium until the very end. I’m satisfied, as it was my first race since my back injury seventh months ago,” said Giugliano.

“The podium was within our reach, but unfortunately I made a small mistake in turn 4 with a few laps to go and lost contact with the front. Together with the team, I worked hard to find a setup that allows me to be consistent for the whole race distance, and to do the fastest lap at the end represents a positive confirmation. We’ve made a big step forward, and we need to keep working in this direction to be even more competitive tomorrow.”