The Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team had a great weekend at the Lausitzring for round six of the 2017 FIM Superstock 1000 European Championship. Both riders battled it out at the sharp end in every session and a dramatic finale to Sunday’s race saw Roberto Tamburini charge through the field after a tricky start to secure his third podium of the season following a last-lap overtake on his teammate Florian Marino, who crossed the line in fourth.
Tamburini had ended Friday’s practice second on the combined timesheets and took this pace into an incredibly close Qualifying where he secured fifth on the grid for Sunday’s race, in a session that saw less than a second separate the top ten. Unfortunately, the 26-year-old Italian did not have the best of starts and found himself down in eighth place on the first lap. The fact that everyone was on a similar race pace made it hard for him to fight his way through the field, but undeterred, he got his head down and starting to close the gap to the riders ahead of him. On a dramatic penultimate lap, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Federico Sandi made contact, with the former crashing and the latter running onto the gravel. This left the door open to the podium for Tamburini and he made an excellent move on his teammate on the final lap to cross the line in third, just 0.643s ahead of Marino.
Marino was also battling at the front all weekend, as he too showed promising pace on his Yamaha R1M. Qualifying at the head of the second row in front of his teammate, the 24-year-old French rider got a good start but didn’t quite have the same feeling with his bike as he had previously and he struggled to stay with the leading trio. As the race progressed, the effort he was putting in took its toll and he couldn’t quite maintain his pace, but he battled hard and heading into the penultimate lap he was in fifth place. The incident with the riders in front meant he was promoted to third, but his hard charging teammate denied him the podium on the last lap, with Marino securing a hard-fought fourth place.
This result means that Marino remains third in the championship standings with 80 points after six races, while Tamburini stays in fourth with 72 points, but has closed the gap to his teammate to just 8 points. The Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team are back in action for round seven of the 2017 FIM Superstock 1000 European Championship at Portimao on the 15-17th of September. Check out the full results from the weekend.
Florian Marino
Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team – 4th +11.050
“It was a really good race! I did not expect I would struggle like this in the race, as I thought I would be able to battle with the riders at the front and have a chance to fight for the win. Unfortunately, I simply didn’t have the same feeling with the bike in the race as I had the rest of the weekend. I was struggling with the grip, so I wasn’t able to ride the way I wanted, and four laps before the finish I started to lose time because I had been fighting too much with the bike. I am a bit disappointed as this weekend I have been working hard with the team to make sure we had a good package for the race and I genuinely thought I would be able to fight for the win, but I finished fourth and in the circumstances, I don’t think I could have done any better. The important thing is that I learnt a lot this weekend about many things, in fact, weeks like this definitely make you stronger. I am down but not out and I will work hard to come back even stronger in Portimao!”
Sandro Carusi
Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team Manager
“It was a good race for both riders! It was like a victory for the team really after they have worked so hard for this result! To finish in third and fourth is a very good result for us, especially for Roberto who charged through the field after a tricky start. Florian was a little disappointed, but to be disappointed when you are fourth is a good sign, it shows the desire we have in the team to win. I would like to thank Yamaha, Pata, Biblion, Akrapovic and all of our sponsors, and we are already looking forward to Portimao.”
Roberto Tamburini
Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team – 3rd +10.407s