After a month-long summer break, the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team was finally back in action at EuroSpeedway Lausitz for the ninth round of the WorldSBK Championship. On a track where Ducati is the most successful manufacturer with 6 wins to date, erratic weather conditions characterized Friday’s free-practice sessions: FP1 was dry, while FP2 was interrupted for a long time by heavy rains.
Chaz Davies posted his personal best time with a 1:37.526, which granted him third position both in FP1 and the combined rankings, +0.354 seconds behind the provisional best time. Marco Melandri, who was hindered by an electrical issue in the morning session, quickly climbed the time sheets in FP2 to finish with a 1:37.858 (+0.686) before the rain hit the track. Both riders thus gained direct access to Superpole 2.
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will resume action on Saturday at 08:45 local time (CET) for FP3 in preparation of Superpole and Race 1, which is scheduled to start at 13:00.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 1:37.526 (3rd)
“It was a mixed day. It feels like we just started to get going after the summer break but FP2 was a bit anti-climactic. I was hoping to get into my stride but we started the afternoon session with quite a different setup and I didn’t feel too happy on bike so we decided to go back to our base. Then the rain came. Here at Lausitz you never know what the track conditions will be, so it was important to head out on rain tires but, after a couple of laps, I realized it was more dry than wet so it wasn’t too useful to ride aside from being to able to understand where the wet and dry spots are. Hopefully, we’ll get a more consistent track tomorrow. I think that, once we go back to our base and put a fresher engine on, we can definitely improve. We always had a good pace here.”
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 1:37.858 (5th)
“It’s been a positive day but not an easy one for sure, because we suffered an electrical problem that kept us in the pits for most of FP1 and in the afternoon we were only able to do a couple of runs in dry conditions. Still, we managed to cut the gap significantly and I want to thank my crew because they did a really good job. I feel better on the bike compared with the tests, which were still very useful to get acquainted with the track. I like the layout, but the tarmac is really bumpy and it becomes dangerous in wet conditions, especially in the last corner. Tomorrow, we need to improve especially in the third split to make a good Superpole, as it’s not easy to pass on this circuit. I want to stay close to our rivals, then anything can happen during the race.”
Weekend schedule (CET)
Saturday
08:45 – 09:10 SBK FP3
10:30 – 10.45 SBK Superpole 1
10:55 – 11:10 SBK Superpole 2
13:00 SBK Race 1
Sunday
09:30 – 09:45 SBK Warm-up
13:00 SBK Race 2
