The opening race of the ninth WorldSBK round of the season was contested today at the Lausitzring racetrack in Germany. With Stefan Bradl out of action following yesterday’s crash during free practice two, Davide Giugliano was running in the top-15 when a technical problem forced him back to the pits approximately halfway through the encounter.
- Stefan Bradl
- Stefan Bradl
Giugliano enjoyed a good start to the race from sixteenth place on the grid and made up two positions on the opening lap on board his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 machine. The 27-year-old Italian was battling for a finish in the points until lap ten, when he ran off track first and then made his way back to the pits.
After riding through the pain in both FP3 and Superpole 1 and qualifying in fifteenth place, Stefan Bradl decided to sit out the opening encounter of his home round in order to rest his injured elbow and increase his chances to line up on the grid for tomorrow’s race two. The German rider’s condition will be reviewed by the medical centre tomorrow morning before warm up, which is set to get underway at 9:30 local time (GMT +2).
Honda Rider Comments
- Davide Giugliano (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)
Race result: Race 1 / DNF - “It was a good race for as long as it lasted. At the beginning, with everyone so close together, it was hard for me to be aggressive – it was still my first race with this bike after all – so I lost a bit of ground. Then when the pack opened up a bit, I was able to ride more like I wanted to and my pace improved. My lap times were quite interesting, too, as I was quicker than during the rest of the weekend. It was a shame we were forced to retire with a technical issue: the team is now trying to understand what happened in order to be ready for tomorrow.”
- Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)
Race result: Race 1 / DNF - “No doubt it’s been an unlucky weekend so far. After hitting my elbow hard in yesterday’s FP2 crash, this morning I tried to ride but it could only do a few laps before the pain got too intense and I had very limited movement in the joint. That’s why I had to make the decision of not racing today. I will get some more treatment later at Clinica Mobile in order to get in better shape for tomorrow and try to race.”
- Pieter Breddels (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)
- “We kept working with Davide to improve his feeling with the bike and we made some steps forward. In the race he looked a bit more comfortable and his times were quicker, too. It was disappointing that we had a technical problem, and we are currently analyzing what happened in order to prepare for tomorrow. With better luck, he’ll be able to enjoy a good second race here at Lausitzring. Stefan decided not to race today as the pain from his elbow was too much. Hopefully that decision will give him time to recover enough to be able to take part in race two.”
- Stefan Bradl
- Davide Giugliano
Bradl returns to action in Germany to claim thirteenth place
The German Round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship has taken place with local hero Stefan Bradl in thirteenth place at the end of the 21-lap encounter at the Lausitzring racetrack. His Red Bull Honda World Superbike team mate for this ninth event of the season, Davide Giugliano, crossed the finish line in 17th position.
After missing the opening race of the weekend due to severe pain in his elbow, which was badly bruised and wounded following an unfortunate crash on Friday, Bradl was able to line up on the grid for race two. The 27-year-old from Augsburg maintained his position at the start and as the race got closer to its halfway point, he entered a battle for 12th place with Leandro Mercado and Raffaele de Rosa. Bradl successfully overtook the latter on lap 19 as he moved up to thirteenth, a position he defended hard up to the checkered flag.
Davide Giugliano did not enjoy a good start as he was down to 20th place on the opening lap. The Italian was able to make his way back to 17th place in the early stages but struggled to keep a competitive pace as the laps went by. In the final part of the encounter, the former STK1000 Champion fended off the attacks coming from Badovini to end the race two positions away from the top 15.
World Superbike will now enjoy another break before the next round of the season, which takes place at Portimão’s Autodromo do Algarve on September 15-17.
Honda Rider Comments
- Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)
Race result: Race 2 / 13th - “It was good to take part in the race. I felt OK to ride because when the adrenaline kicks in you don’t feel too much pain. I feel it was the right decision to sit out yesterday’s race in order to be almost fully fit today. Unfortunately, my feeling with the bike today was not perfect, because it was nervous over the many bumps and I suffered a bit on corner exit as well. Surely the lack of track time from not having raced yesterday did not help. I had to keep my pace under control for the most part, but in the final laps I could push a bit more and overtake De Rosa before the finish line. I’m a bit disappointed with this race and obviously for the weekend in general, but I hope for next event we’ll be able to make a bigger step forwards.”
- Davide Giugliano (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)
Race result: Race 2 / 17th - “This morning we made a good step forward in warm up and I was able to lap much faster than I had done over the whole weekend. I felt good with the bike at the beginning of the race and was able to make some passes, but unfortunately after 4 to 5 laps the rear tire started to wear, so it was impossible for me to keep up that good pace. There isn’t much else to say, really, but I guess this is part of racing. Too bad, because we worked very well this morning and my feeling with the Fireblade had improved significantly from yesterday.”
- Pieter Breddels (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)
- “We tried some changes this morning with both riders and they turned out to be quite positive. Stefan’s elbow condition improved from yesterday so he could take part in the race, and he had quite a good start and fought for half the race for 12th place. Unfortunately, the bike was moving a bit too much and he was having a tough time, and he was also struggling with drive out of the corners. Davide had an encouraging first part of the race, but from lap three onwards he started to struggle with rear grip, and data confirmed this issue. We have another break now, which will help us analyze all the telemetry ahead of Portimão. It’ll be interesting to go back to Portugal after the tests we did earlier this year, and the extra day of testing after the round will surely be of great help for us, too.”
- Davide Giugliano
World Superbike and World Supersport 2017
Round 09: EuroSpeedway – Germany
| Rank | Rider (Team) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) |
| 2 | Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) |
| 3 | Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) |
| 4 | Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) |
| 5 | Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) |
| 6 | Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) |
| 7 | Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) |
| 8 | Xavi Forés (BARNI Racing Team) |
| 9 | Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) |
| 10 | Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) |
| 11 | Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) |
| 12 | Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) |
| 13 | Markus Reiterberger (Van Zon Remeha BMW) |
| 14 | Román Ramos (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) |
| 15 | Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) |
| Rank | Rider (Team) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) |
| 2 | Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) |
| 3 | Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) |
| 4 | Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) |
| 5 | Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) |
| 6 | Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) |
| 7 | Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) |
| 8 | Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) |
| 9 | Markus Reiterberger (Van Zon Remeha BMW) |
| 10 | Xavi Forés (BARNI Racing Team) |
| 11 | Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) |
| 12 | Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) |
| 13 | Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) |
| 14 | Román Ramos (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) |
| 15 | Raffaele de Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) |
| Rank | Rider (Team) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sheridan Morais (Kallio Racing) |
| 2 | Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) |
| 3 | Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) |
| 4 | Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) |
| 5 | Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing) |
| 6 | Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) |
| 7 | Kyle Smith (GEMAR Team Lorini) |
| 8 | Anthony West (West Racing) |
| 9 | Thomas Gradinger(MPB Racing) |
| 10 | Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing) |
| 11 | Christoffer Bergman (BARDAHL EVAN BROS. Honda Racing) |
| 12 | Christian Gamarino (BARDAHL EVAN BROS. Honda Racing) |
| 13 | Hannes Soomer (WILSport Racedays) |
| 15 | Michael Canducci (Puccetti Racing Junior Team FMI) |
