Heavy rain hit the EuroSpeedway Lausitz just as the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship grid formed for this afternoon’s battle. Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK rider Sylvain Guintoli rode a stellar race to close a top-five finish while Alex Lowes unfortunately succumbed to the conditions on lap 10.
Cold temperatures and low grip amounted to a difficult start as the reduced 16-lap race got underway at the Lausitzring. Mirroring his impressive pace from yesterday’s morning practice in the wet, Guintoli soon looked comfortable on his YZF-R1 despite the surroundings. Steadily picking his way around the soaking circuit, the Frenchman’s times began to improve as he reeled in the front group, holding the fastest lap of the race so far on lap 10 as he battled van der Mark for sixth position. Securing the move he immediately set on the hunt for Davies with podium matching pace, taking fifth with three laps to go and instantly breaking the hold. Guintoli crossed the line with over a two second gap, collecting 11 points and bolstering his championship tally to 76.
Suffering a bad start under the demanding circumstances, Lowes was lucky to stay upright as he left the lights but quickly recovered to jump six positions within the opening lap. Running strongly inside the top ten by middle distance, the unfortunate Briton was again caught out by the conditions, falling at turn six on his 10th revolution and forcing his retirement from Round 10’s final race.
In the morning’s FIM Supersport World Championship race, Yamaha and Kallio Motorsport rider Niki Tuuli put on an impressive performance to place his YZF-R6 on the podium in second, just 1.7 seconds behind the reigning Champion Kenan Sofuoglu, having battled with the leader for the majority of the 19-lap race.
The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team now looks to prepare for Guintoli’s home event as the WorldSBK Championship moves to Magny-Cours in France on Friday 30th September.
Sylvain Guintoli
Race: 5th / +17.100 / 16 laps. Championship: 13th / 76 points
“It is good to be back in the top-five – especially after almost five months away from racing. It was also good to just be back racing this weekend! I missed being on the bike a lot. Fifth place is a good result for us but saying that, I felt like I really struggled at the start of the race to get temperature and grip from the rear tyre and the bike was not giving me the feel that I wanted. I feel that it’s a bit of a lost opportunity as the YZF-R1 was really, really, good for braking and chassis-wise was very good also but I was struggling with traction out of the corners. All-in-all I’ve got to be happy with this, coming back to racing but I also feel like we should have done a lot better. I did everything I could and I almost crashed many times so we’ll take this and look towards my home race.”
Alex Lowes
Race: DNF. Championship: 11th / 102 points
“What can I say? It’s been a disappointing weekend for me. I had really good pace in the dry on Friday but the weather just didn’t work out in my favour for today’s race. The grip and conditions were very challenging today and I really struggled at the start but I managed to get back up to the top ten quickly enough. I had consistent pace and was looking at some decent points but it wasn’t to be. We will continue to put in the work and look to come back stronger in France.”
Paul Denning – Team Principal
“It was great to have Sylvain back with us after so long and to finish in the top-five was very impressive. The pace was good enough for the podium but the start and lack of feel in the early laps let us down. We don’t have a lot of wet-running experience with the YZF-R1 so this race will help a lot in preparation for the future.
“Alex’s dry pace was again strong in warm up today but we missed something in the wet, resulting in a lack of feedback and rider confidence. There were 12 crashes in the race, the track is unbelievably slippery – it was just a shame we were one of them!
“The whole Pata Yamaha team would like to extend their congratulations to Niki Tuuli for his dramatic second position in today’s Supersport race, and to Riccardo Russo and the Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team for their podium on his return from injury. Onwards to Magny-Cours, and an upturn in our fortunes there!”
