As the riders enjoyed their first race since the summer break it was Welshman Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) who produced a superb ride at the Prosecco DOC German Round on Saturday, taking victory by a 1.834s margin from Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) also on the podium.
Repeating his Race 1 victory from Lausitzring last year Davies controlled the race well after starting in third on the grid, taking the lead on the second lap. He was too strong for Rea and Sykes despites their best efforts to chase him down.
Sykes had set a new pole record earlier in the day but could not match Davies’ race pace and crossed the line in third place, 3.25s down on the Ducati-equipped race winner.
The Saturday contest at Round 9 in Germany saw Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) cross the line in fourth place, 16 seconds down on his teammate Davies, with Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) getting a creditable fifth place as he finished half a second behind Melandri.
Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) put pressure on Camier for fifth but just missed out by 0.186s as the highest finisher on the YZF R1.
Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) was the best finisher on the Aprilia RSV4 RF in seventh, whilst Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team), Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) rounded out the top ten.
On his WorldSBK return wildcard Markus Reiterberger (Van Zon Remeha BMW) was running in a solid eighth place for much of the race before he ran into the gravel at turn 10 and dropped down the order to eventually finish 13th.
Earlier Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) had suffered a midrace off track excursion and he ended up 11th. There were several high profile crashers and retirees including Italian quartet Riccardo Russo (Guandalini Racing), Raffaele de Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Davide Giugliano (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team).
Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) was forced to sit out due to pain in his left elbow, after crashing on Friday and having a further medical check following Superpole on Saturday morning. His condition is to be evaluated again on Sunday morning before Warm Up.
Indeed Sunday’s action at the Prosecco DOC German Round will see the WorldSBK riders on track for their Warm Up session at 9.30am local time (GMT+2), with Race 2 commencing at 1pm local time.
P1 – Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“Last year was a great race for us in the first race and this year I knew that would be a different story. It was a matter of scratching out a result as everyone had a strong pace, I felt like we showed we had the best pace over 21 laps instead of one lap. I kept my powder dry, 25 points in the bag and I’m very happy with that.”
P2 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)
“I think second position is the best we could have expected this weekend, after we’ve had some problems all weekend. In the mid part of the race I did think I had a little bit extra, but it wasn’t enough to match Davies’ pace, so a big well done to him.”
P3 – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
“Overall I’m happy with our performance, I had a bit of a problem and wasn’t able to exit the long turns as I would have liked and that’s whats slowed us down, we just need to work on those issues tomorrow and I think we’ll be up and fighting.”
#GermanWorldSBK at Lausitzring: Race 1
1. Chaz Davies Ducati
2. Jonathan Rea Kawasaki +1.834
3. Tom Sykes Kawasaki +3.250
Pirelli WorldSBK Tyre Choices
Full Race Results
Manufacturers Award Standings
