Australian #71 Tom Edwards wraps up his debut weekend with his new team D34G Racing on a high at the WorldSBK Catalunya round, winning the World SuperSport Challenge Category and finishing 12th overall in Race 2 in what was a 6-lap race.
It was a dramatic start to the weekend, with Edwards unable to complete a lap in the only free practice session of the weekend due a technical problem with his Ducati V2 Panigale.
The D34G team, lead by ex-WorldSBK rider Davide Giuliano, worked rapidly in the box trying to resolved the technical issue but with only 40-minutes on the clock they wasn’t enough time.
“It was disappointing not being able to make anything out of the session. With the new schedule, we only have one free practice before qualifying. I was really proud of my team and how they handled it. They worked right down to the last second of the session to try and get me out there which I appreciated.”
Later that afternoon, Edwards went straight into Superpole where he was able to pull off a P13 spot on the grid, despite only haven ridden the bike on one other occasion. Showing promising signs for the year ahead.
Race 1, Edwards catapulted off the line making his way to P9 by the second corner where he spent majority of race before going down at T10.
Race 2, he was back for redemption with another powerful start at lights out shooting from P13 to P9.
A red flag on lap 5 due to a crash on track sent the riders back to the box waiting for a quick restart.
Edwards showed again just how hot off the line he is on the Ducati, this time making his way up to P7 by the first corner.
On turn 10 of the final lap of the 6-lap restart race, a collision ahead of Edwards caused heavy breaking and allowed other riders further back in the pack to bypass the incident.
Edwards crossed the line in P12 overall and P1 in the European Challenge, where he now leads with 4-World SuperSport Points to his name.
Next race: Assen 19 - 21 April, 2024
#71 TOM EDWARDS
"I am happy with today and the weekend overall and I think it is a positive start to the season. Obviously. I was very disappointed with the race one crash, but we managed to make amends today – this is racing, after all. I feel like we have much more potential, and I am excited for what is ahead with the D34G Racing team. The team and I have learned a lot together over the weekend and are ready to fight further up the field in Assen. Big thanks to all the team who worked their hardest all week.”
DAVIDE GIUGLIANO - TEAM MANAGER D34G RACING
“The weekend had an uphill start due to a problem suffered by one of our riders, which obviously cost us a lot of track time. We still managed to improve and in race two we scored some good results, an eleventh and a twelfth place, which despite still not being on par with our expectations are clearly indicative of a good work done during the weekend – especially considering the much-reduced gap to the frontrunners. We also finished in first place with regards to the WorldSSP Challenge this weekend, which is one of the goals we set for the season: Tom did really well in his first race aboard a Ducati. Now we need to keep working on the consistency in terms of performance and we’ll be ready for Assen. I’d like to thank our sponsors; it was nice to have some of our guests here and to share with them the excitement of a racing weekend.”
