Davide Giugliano

It’s taken a while for Davide Giugliano to make his break from the Superstock 1000 series, but a dominant turn in 2011 has rightly earned him the opportunity to further his career in the World Superbike Championship with title-winners Althea Racing.

Climbing his way through the Italian domestic ranks, peaking with a race-winning turn in the CIV Kawasaki Ninja 600 Trophy, Giugliano made his first European-based appearance in 2006 in the Superstock 600 category.

Riding a Kawasaki ZX-6R under the Lightspeed banner, Giugliano adapted to the series quickly and established himself as a title contender alongside Xavier Simeon and Niccolo Canepa. Two wins, both on Italian soil at Misano and Imola, lifted Giugliano up the order, but he would be forced to settle for third overall behind his two rivals.

Nonetheless, Giugliano had done enough to earn a graduation to the World Supersport Championship with the same Lightspeed Kawasaki team. However, though he cracked the top ten at Donington Park and Assen, Giugliano was just a point-scorer on three occasions and was not seen in the series again beyond round nine at Brno.

Taking a step back, Giugliano landed in the Superstock 1000 series for 2008, riding a Suzuki GSX-R1000 for the Cruciani team. In an incredibly competitive field, Giugliano showed flashes of brilliance, claiming three podiums at Valencia, the Nurburgring and Magny-Cours, though his results elsewhere were less notable.

Nonetheless, seventh overall was a fine debut performance and prompted a switch to better-fancied Yamaha machinery for 2009 under the Lorenzini by Leoni banner. However, Giugliano didn’t fare as well, missing the podium and scoring in just five of the ten races on the way to tenth in the final standings.

A return to Suzuki, with the new Team 06 outfit, hauled Giugliano back up the order in 2010, the Italian shrugging off the bike’s age alongside newer opposition to reach the podium at Valencia and Assen. Further strong results towards the end of the season would eventually see Giugliano seal fifth in the standings aboard the only Suzuki in the entire field.

His efforts were enough to catch the attention of WSBK race winners Althea Racing, who were branching out into Superstock racing to supplement its semi-factory supported Superbike effort. Signing Giugliano to head its effort, he duly took advantage, scoring four wins and three second place finishes in nine races to claim the title by a comfortable margin.

Winning the championship a round early at Magny-Cours, Giugliano was duly given the chance to show what he could do on a Superbike, joining Althea for the final WSBK event at Portimao. Impressing with his pace in practice, Giugliano was a point scorer in the races, enough to convince Althea to promote him to their Superbike team full-time in 2012 alongside champion Carlos Checa.

Measured against his more experienced team-mate, Giugliano did not disgrace himself in a quality field of riders, reaching the podium by round three at Assen, an achievement he repeated again on home soil at Misano later in the year.

Indeed, Giugliano’s flashes of speed, particularly in qualifying, proved he was deserving of his promotion to Superbikes, but rookie errors including crashes at Silverstone, Moscow, Brno and the Nurburgring denied him better than tenth in the overall standings.

With evidently more to come, Giugliano would very nearly be denied the chance to prove himself when Althea announced its split from Ducati over the winter. Under a contract with Althea, the team’s decision to switch to Aprilia machinery in 2013 means Giugliano will get a second year in World Superbikes, albeit on the unfamiliar RSV4.

Career Highlights:

2012: World Superbike Championship, Althea Ducati, 10th

2011: FIM Superstock 1000 Championship, Althea Ducati, Champion (4 wins)

2010: FIM Superstock 1000 Championship, Team 06 Suzuki, 5th

2009: FIM Superstock 1000 Championship, Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha, 10th

2008: FIM Superstock 1000 Championship, Cruciani Italia Suzuki, 7th

2007: World Supersport Championship, Lightspeed Kawasaki, 27th

2006: European Superstock 600 Championship, Lightspeed Kawasaki, 3rd (2 wins)

2005: Kawasaki Ninja Trophy

2004: 125cc CIV Italian Championship, 9th