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Davide Giugliano to Sit Out of WSBK This Year, Ducati’s Tough Luck Carries On

2015 is definitely not the best season for Davide Giugliano, one of the riders Ducati is fielding in the factory team in the World Superbike. After fracturing two lumbar vertebrae in a crash during testing at Phillip Island ahead of the season debut, Giugliano will be forced to sit out for the rest of the championship due to a new spinal injury.
Davide Giugliano 1 photo
Photo: theamazing.eu
Giugliano crashed in the second race at Laguna Seca after drops of rain fell at the circuit, and the initial medical investigations only found heavy bruising. However, as Team Aruba.it-Ducati returned to Italy after the racing weekend, they decided to have him checked once more to make sure things were safe and the vertebrae he fractured back in February were not affected.

Unfortunately, a second scan revealed a small fracture in one of his thoracic vertebrae. While the injury is not putting Giugliano in any danger now, the doctors said he will have to take some three months off from riding. This means that he will not be back in action for the remainder of the season.

No replacement for Sepang, Michelle Pirro will then take over

Ducati's factory team will not field a replacement rider in the upcoming round at Sepang. With the Malaysian round to take place next Sunday on the 2nd of August, Ducati can't find a suitable rider on such a short notice.

Aruba.it-Ducati will have Borgo Panigale's test rider Michele Pirro in the saddle of the Panigale R for the upcoming round at Jerez on September 20. No option for replacing Giugliano was announced for the other two rounds that remain, Fassi in France and Losail in Qatar.

Davide Giugliano was substituted for by legendary Troy Bayliss in two rounds, Phillip Island and Chang (Thailand), but the Australian rider said they were enough for him, as he had no intentions of returning to pro racing.

It will be interesting to see if Bayliss considers adding two more rounds to his career. The Aussie also got in trouble in early June, breaking a leg at an AMA Pro Flat Track event in Sacramento, California.

Giugliano is currently seventh in the WSBK standings, whereas his team mate Chaz Davies is third.
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