Round 10 of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship has drawn to a close for the Honda WorldSBK Team, with Michael van der Mark and Nicky Hayden finishing race two at the Lausitzring in eighth and tenth places, respectively. After being delayed a couple of times due to adverse weather conditions, the race got underway at 13:47 with a reduced race distance of 16 laps and was contested on a very slippery surface.
Nicky HaydenzoomNicky Hayden Nicky HaydenzoomNicky Hayden
Michael van der Mark maintained his position at the start and, as the race reached its halfway point, he was sixth but under pressure from former teammate Sylvain Guintoli, who got past him two laps later. With three laps to go, the young Dutchman crashed out of seventh place at turn nine; despite substantial damage on his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machine, he bravely re-joined the race to claim an eighth place at the line.
Nicky Hayden had a very difficult start from the front row of the grid and by lap three he had dropped down to 18th place. Although he was unable to find a competitive rhythm, Hayden made his way back to 11th place, before he was forced to run straight on at turn six on lap 11, when Alex Lowes crashed in front of him. After returning to the track in 12th position, the experienced American rode his way to a tenth place finish.
The next round of the FIM Superbike World Championship will take place at Magny-Cours in France in a fortnight’s time.
Honda Rider Comments
Michael van der Mark (Honda World Superbike Team)
Race result: 6th/8th“We had a nice dry warm up, in which we tried a couple of changes which gave us a bit more grip and I definitely felt better on the bike compared to yesterday. When it was time to race, race direction decided it was better to wait given the amount of rain that was falling. It was the right decision as there was basically no visibility at all. I got a good start to the race but the track was very slippery and I couldn’t lean as much as I wanted. After a couple of laps, I saw Giugliano crashing out of the race and I immediately thought about the championship situation, because the priority was to stay upright. Then, with three laps to go I simply locked the front and crashed. I really wanted to finish the race so I picked up the bike and rode two laps with barely any front brake. These are very important points for me, so all in all I’m not too disappointed.”Nicky Hayden (Honda World Superbike Team)
Race result: 3rd/10th“Warm up went very well, but obviously the conditions changed for the race and it ended up not being my best day. I didn’t have a good race at all and I apologize to the team. Yesterday I did a silly mistake very early during FP3 in the wet so I had no data from the session for these types of conditions. This really put us on the back foot, especially in the early laps. Eventually I started to feel better but on the main straight, when I caught Lowes, he ended up crashing in front of me and by instinct I released the brakes for a split second and ended up running off. Given how the track is, when I returned to the track I had lost almost 15 seconds and a couple of places. Still my performance in the wet was not good and I will try to make up for it in Magny-Cours.”Pieter Breddels“We were ready and confident to race in the dry but of course it was not meant to be today. Michael had a good start and was running his own race, but unfortunately he ended up crashing with three laps to go. Eighth was not the result he was aiming for, but hats off to him for picking the bike up and riding it to the finish line. His last lap wasn’t even that bad considering the damage! Things simply didn’t go the right way for Nicky already from the start. After losing so many places he started to pick up the pace, but when Lowes crashed in front of him he lost that momentum again and with it the temperature in his tires. In the end he took a tenth place, surely not what he was looking for especially after winning a race in Malaysia, but the two tracks have very little in common. We have some work to do now on our wet set-up, especially before Magny-Cours where it wouldn’t be surprising if it rains.”
Michael van der Mark(#60)zoomMichael van der Mark(#60) Michael van der MarkzoomMichael van der Mark
Impressive Ride to Fourth Place for Jacobsen in Lausitzring World Supersport Race
PJ Jacobsen put together an impressive performance in today’s ninth-round World Supersport race at the Lausitzring racetrack in Germany. The Honda WorldSSP rider went from ninth place on the grid to fourth at the checkered flag, courtesy of an extremely competitive last part of the race, which saw Jacobsen making up three places in the last five laps.
Jacobsen was able to maintain his position at the start, he kept his own rhythm in the early stages of the race and, as the laps went by, he built speed upon speed. Towards the end, he was one of the fastest riders on track. After moving up to sixth place, the young American shadowed Federico Caricasulo and, once both riders got past Randy Krummenacher on the penultimate lap, he decided to have a shot at fourth place and overtook the fellow Honda rider at turn 10.
Last year’s Vice Champion then rode as hard as he could to seal fourth place at the line. Courtesy of this result, Jacobsen is now only nine points away from second place in the standings.
Round 10 of the 2016 FIM Supersport World Championship will take place in a fortnight’s time at Magny-Cours in France.
Honda Rider Comments
Patrick Jacobsen (Honda World Supersport Team)
Race result: 4th“Today was really good for us. A fourth in the race felt like a podium to me, given how much we struggled this weekend. I really couldn’t figure the track out and find the right setup to be fully competitive. In the race I never gave up and kept going and did my best time on the final lap. I just wish the race could have been longer! Thanks to the team for never giving up as well; we’ll come back stronger in Magny-Cours, a track where I won last year. I’m really looking forward to racing there.”Pieter Breddels “We tried some new settings during warm up but PJ struggled in finding a clear lap; because of that we were unsure about the change, although we thought the setup for dry conditions was a little better. His start was not perfect and it took him a while to find his rhythm, but in the last eight laps he managed to pick up the pace and really get going. He went from eighth to fourth at the line. Honestly, this was the best result we could have hoped for today. We have some more work to do to put ourselves in a better position at Magny-Cours, especially in qualifying. On the bright side, we are closing the gap to second place in the standings and that’s really good news.”
Patrick Jacobsen(#2)zoomPatrick Jacobsen(#2)
World Superbike and World Supersport 2016
Round 10: EuroSpeedway – Germany
Superbike Race 1
Rank
Rider (Team)
1 Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati)
2 Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
3 Nicky Hayden (Honda World Superbike Team)
4 Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team)
5 Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)
6 Michael van der Mark (Honda World Superbike Team)
7 Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati)
8 Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
9 Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
10 Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team)
11 Anthony West (Pedercini Racing)
12 Alex De Angelis (IodaRacing Team)
13 Román Ramos (Team GoEleven)
14 Joshua Brookes (Milwaukee BMW)
15 Luca Scassa (VFT Racing)
Superbike Race 2
Rank
Rider (Team)
1 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)
2 Alex De Angelis (IodaRacing Team)
3 Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team)
4 Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)
5 Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
6 Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati)
7 Joshua Brookes (Milwaukee BMW)
8 Michael van der Mark (Honda World Superbike Team)
9 Román Ramos (Team GoEleven)
10 Nicky Hayden (Honda World Superbike Team)
11 Luca Scassa (VFT Racing)
12 Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
13 Gianluca Vizziello (Grillini Racing Team)
14 Pawe Szkopek (Team Tóth)
15 Karel Abraham (Milwaukee BMW)
Supersport
Rank
Rider (Team)
1 Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
2 Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing)
3 Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)
4 Patrick Jacobsen (Honda World Supersport Team)
5 Federico Caricasulo (Bardahl Evan Bros. Honda Racing)
6 Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
7 Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)
8 Christoffer Bergman (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda)
9 Kyle Smith (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda)
10 Hikari Okubo (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda)
11 Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing)
12 Alex Baldolini (Race Department ATK#25)
13 Ayrton Badovini (Gemar Balloons - Team Lorini)
14 Ilya Mikhalchik (DS Junior Team)
15 Axel Bassani (San Carlo Team Italia)
