Carlos Checa usually doesn’t make mistakes, especially since he’s been riding a Ducati for Althea Racing, but when he does - as it happened in race 1 at Phillip Island - it was a real doozy. An unexpected and spectacular spit off highside left the reigning World champion who had been leading at that point with zero points, but his comeback in race 2 awarded him the agonized 25 points and a fourth in the standings, candidly admitted he had been under pressure.

“In race one I had the worst crash that I’ve ever had with the Ducati. I was under pressure and pushed a little too hard. It’s extremely difficult to find the exact limit with the bike, the track, and with myself and today I exceeded that limit and fell. The team made a fantastic job of preparing a bike that allowed me to win in race two. In that race, I started strong and when I saw that Max had gone off track, I pushed hard to get ahead and win the race. Max made a good recovery but I was able to maintain a strong pace and bring home what is a very important win for me and for the team.”

While debuting team mate Davide Giugliano scored a respectable 9th and a 13th position in the double header with some aggressive riding in race 1 (ask Leon Camier about it) said “Race 1 I used to gain experience, not knowing exactly how it would go. It went quite well and I was able to use what I learned in this race to go on the attack in the second. I started strong in the second race and was up with the front group. I was able to pass those a little slower than me and was, I think, seventh. I planned to race behind Melandri and Haslam and conserve the tyres as best I could and that seemed to be working but unfortunately, five laps from the end, I started to suffer pain in my left arm and had to slow down in the final laps. It was a pity because if it hadn’t been for that, I could have finished in the front group which wouldn’t have been at all bad! I have to solve this problem before Imola where I am sure I can do better.”

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The World Superbike season has finally started and in today’s first two sessions at Phillip Island, Althea Racing team started very well despite the high track temperatures (53°C).

The Italian team was able to take the 3rd and 4th positions in the provisional qualifying grid, Davide Giugliano ahead of his titled team mate Carlos Checa, who after dominating most of the session lost the rear of his Ducati at the exit of turn 10, suffering a small tank slapper before running of track and then crashing out unhurt.

Davide Giugliano - 3rd

“It didn’t go at all badly. I had lost some feeling after my crash on Tuesday and so this morning was difficult but, with the team’s help, I was able to regain confidence by the afternoon. Concentrating on finding feeling means that we couldn’t work on race pace but that will be on tomorrow’s schedule. I had Carlos’ help in putting together those fast laps and it looks like we have the potential to be fast – now I just need to go out and find consistency on my own, which is difficult as I don’t yet have all the references. Anyway, we’ve worked hard and we’ll see what happens tomorrow but today we leave the track very happy.”

Carlos Checa - 4th

“We’ve worked well today. All went well apart from the incident of course; I lost the rear, maybe because of tyre wear, and couldn’t keep hold of it but luckily I didn’t collide with the small wall in front of me! I was able to get back to the garage where we sorted the handlebar and changed the tyre. I had the chance to try the narrower tyre but we saw that the wider tyre lasts longer. The tyres were the focus of our work today really, identifying the best solution to ensure good race pace. I’m satisfied with what we’ve got done. I’ve always gone well with the Ducati at Phillip Island and so I think we can benefit from this ‘track factor’ come Sunday.”

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Day 1 of official World Superbike testing at Phillip Island saw once again Carlos Checa top the timesheets, while the reigning World Champion was the only rider to break the 1.32 mark and slightly faster than in last week’s private test, he again pointed out that it seems difficult to improve beyond a certain point (the Ducati’s are carrying 6kgs of extra weight).

The teams worked in very warm temperatures also testing the new tires that Pirelli brought to Australia, which includes a soft rear tire, an even softer rear one and a new soft front tire that debuted today for the higher temperatures that are expected on race day.

“I’m pretty happy. We’re still up there with the times, though it seems difficult to improve beyond that point,” said Checa. “Today we continued to work on set-up, with the suspension and the electronics, trying to find the best compromise when it comes to performance. Tomorrow we still have a few small things to work on and we’ll look at the tyres again of course as tyre choice for this weekend’s races will be extremely important. So tomorrow we’ll get everything in line as much as possible and then our concentration turns to the first races of the season!”

Continue reading: Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano on day 1 at Phillip Island

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Reigning World Champion Carlos Checa can be more than satisfied with the results of this latest test at Phillip Island. Even carrying an extra weight of six kilos on his Ducati, the Spaniard still managed to keep everyone at bay including a very determined Tom Sykes.

While many riders, especially Max Biaggi say that those extra kilos on the Ducati 1198 will make no difference to someone like Checa, the Spaniardwho is not one for complaining stated that it already feels like that they are at the limit, but know which direction the team has to take to overcome this weight increase handicap.

“We lost time yesterday because I was unwell; I stayed in bed for most of the morning and only went out on track from about 2.30pm. Despite that setback, we still got most of the work done luckily. Today was even hotter and we tried different things but it seems hard to make further improvements when we already feel like we’re at the limit. We started the season well here last year so we’ve compared last year’s set-up to this year’s, considering the extra 6kg, and we understand the direction to take. We’ll continue with the work on Monday, concentrating mainly on the tyres and their behavior in these hot conditions but for now I can say I’m satisfied,” said Checa.

Continue reading: Carlos Checa: "It already feels like we’re at the limit"

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This afternoon at their company headquarters at Civita Castellana, World Superbike team Althea Racing officially presented their 2012 line-up with reigning Superbike champion Carlos Checa and Superstock champion Davide Giugliano and the new livery that the team will be using in this season’s championship.

Althea Racing has picked up some important sponsors for 2012, not only has Unibat re-confirmed their backing, the team has also picked up a couple of mega sponsors like TIM (Telecom Italia’s mobile phone brand) and SNAI (Italy’s largest gaming and betting group) to front their racing effort.

The presentation was followed by the sponsors, Paolo Flammini, CEO of Infront Motor Sports, Paolo Ciabatti, General Manager of Infront Motor Sports, and Ernesto Marinelli, Ducati’s Superbike Project Director and various members of the press.

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While some World Superbike teams have trouble finding paying sponsors (just think of the problems Alstare Suzuki has had over the years) others like Althea Ducati renew their agreements.

Althea Racing announced yesterday that they will continue with their key sponsor Unibat (high perfomance batteries for cars, motorcycles and heavy duty vehicles) for upcoming 2012 season after having sponsored the team for the last two years.

“Having seen team Althea’s ambitious plans for the 2012 Superbike season, we have decided to renew our contract as main sponsor of Althea Racing for another year. We believe in this team, made up of individuals who work well together on both technical and organizational levels. We’re certain that our efforts will help consolidate Unibat’s position as leader among motorcycle battery manufacturers across the globe,” said
Antonio Annoscia, CEO of Unibat.

Genesio Bevilacqua, General Manager of Althea Racing said, “We are delighted to have come to an agreement with Unibat for a third consecutive season. With an extremely successful 2011 season already behind us, we look forward to working with Unibat in 2012 as we strive to consolidate this year’s performance. Unibat has been one of our most loyal supporters over the last two years and we are therefore very pleased that our relationship will continue into the coming season.”

Althea will be fielding two riders in Superbikes next season, World Superbike Champion Carlos Checa and World Superstock Champion Davide Giugliano.

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We already knew after Sunday’s race 2 at Portimao that after very intense last minute negotiations between Ducati, Althea Racing and Carlos Checa that the newly crowned World Superbike champion would be staying with the Italian team.

We also imagined that the 2011 Superstock champion Davide Giugliano would be switching to Superbikes as Bevilacqua had previously hinted at it and he gave the Giugliano a head start by having him debut in WSBK’s during the season’s finale at Portimao, where he finished 16th and 12th

Now Althea has officially confirmed that they will field two bikes in 2012, with Checa and Giugliano at the helm of two Ducati 1098Rs.

“We have finally reached an agreement with Ducati that was very important for the continuation of our long term plans. Things took a little longer than expected but fortunately we have resolved these problems in a very positive way, with the help of Ducati and the good sense of all involved,” said a relieved Bevilacqua.

“I hope this announcement clears up any doubts as I know some wrong information has come out in the press in recent days. Everything is now in place and to be able to announce this at the end of the final race of the 2011 season allowed us to conclude an extremely memorable season, for us, for Ducati and for Carlos in the best possible way. Now what we must do is continue to fight as we have this year, even more so as we will surely be penalized as far as weight on our bike is concerned. We are extremely confident: Carlos and Davide are very determined, the team is more united than ever before and we are sure we can provide the riders with all necessary support.

“Particular thanks goes to Claudio Domenicali, and to Ducati for deciding to support our team in a difficult period such as this. We will do our best to repay this trust, as we have done this season, as we strive to repeat the kind of success that sacrifice and passion have allowed us to achieve this year.”

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Davide Giugliano took the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup championship crown yesterday at Magny Cours and Althea Racing team owner Genesio Bevilacqua has decided to reward his Superstock champion with a Superbike race at the final round of the season at Portimao.

Giugliano won four out of the seven races and took three third place podiums this season to win the title and he also tested Ducati’s new Superbike, the 1199 Panigale at the Mugello.

Bevilacqua is expected to field the 22-year old Superstock champion alongside Carlos Checa in the 2012 championship.

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