After a fine start to the season in Qatar, team manager Marco Borciani says is confident of another good weekend for the Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati squad as the World Superbike Championship heads to Phillip Island for the second round of the year.
Both Max Biaggi and
Ruben Xaus head to the Island on the back of podium finishes in Qatar that leave them inside the top four in the early season standings with the pair also aiming to build on a strong run aboard the new 1098R during pre-season testing at the Australian venue.
"Both the riders ran very fast here during the winter testing," former racer Borciani said. "The job done in January will be helpful in order to face the race with a good set-up from the first day. I feel confident to see Max and Ruben repeating the excellent performance of the first round."
Biaggi was one of the stars of the opening round, with second place in race one and third in race two meaning he lies just two points behind points leader
Troy Bayliss going into the weekend.
The former
MotoGP man has already shown the strength of the 1200cc bike during winter testing on the Island, having posted a best lap under
Troy Corser's official lap record back in January and he said he was looking to better his Qatar results when the race weekend gets underway.
"I'm really hopeful about the race here in Australia because we had the opportunity to test on this track during the winter," he said. "I hope to better the performance of the first round in Qatar."
Team-mate Xaus also ran well during the test as he found a good base set-up on the bike which will aid his challenge this weekend, with the Spaniard saying his focus was to be amongst the front-runners.
"I‘m going to take up the job done here in January which allowed me to score good times and to get an excellent race pace," he said. "I want to repeat the race of Qatar, I want to be one of the top riders in Australia too."
