Ducati:
Outstanding Davies does the double in Race 2 at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, resilient Melandri takes 3rd place
The EuroSpeedway Lausitz (Germany) was home to a memorable weekend for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team, who took a sensational double – the second of the season after Imola – with Chaz Davies. After winning Race 1 on Saturday, the Welshman repeated the feat starting from ninth position. Quickly recovering ground thanks to a strong start, Davies pulled away together with his teammate Marco Melandri and Rea, and took the lead during lap 11. He then made one decisive charge with 5 laps to go, as a light rain started to fall, to take his sixth win of the year.
Melandri also enjoyed a positive Sunday, bouncing back from a difficult Race 1 with a solid third place (his eighth podium of the year) that leaves him hopeful ahead of the next rounds. The Italian, who started from pole position, led the race for the first five laps, fighting for the victory for most of the race and showing significant improvements in terms of overall pace.
After nine rounds, Davies (276 points) and Melandri (218 points) are respectively third and fourth in the championship. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will be back in action at Portimão (Portugal) for the tenth round of the season, scheduled for September 15-17.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 1st
“It was a great race and I loved every minute of it. It was different from yesterday though, as we had to work our way up from third row on the grid. We had a good start and in the first couple of laps we were within sight of the lead, so when I saw Rea making his move I tried to hunt down him and Marco. It wasn’t easy to pass them, but then I just tried to set my own pace, ride clean, and not make mistakes. I was surprised by our rhythm today in the high 1:36 mark, we definitely improved since the tests here a month ago, and it shows the effort everyone is putting in. I’m confident going into Portimão, but we’ll enjoy this double for now and get prepared for another battle.”
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 3rd
“After the issues we encountered yesterday, I wouldn’t have thought we could take the podium here. But, we did a great job together with the team, changing the weight distribution and the overall balance of the bike. The Panigale R was much easier to ride today, and I felt comfortable. Unfortunately, the bike still moved a lot in a couple of corners and I was losing ground under acceleration. I tried to brake deeper to recover, but I made a couple of small mistakes and I decided to secure the podium, thinking back to what happened in Race 1 at Misano. It’s been a positive round: we keep learning new things about the bike, and soon we’ll race on tracks that suit my riding style better. I’m confident ahead of the next rounds.”
Ernesto Marinelli, Superbike Project Director
“It’s been an incredibile weekend. Chaz scored a very important double, especially because today’s pace was so fast, which shows his confidence on the Panigale R. We’re very happy also with the progress made by Marco, who just missed a bit of confidence to fight for the win until the end but recovered strongly after a tough Race 1. I want to thank the team and all the boys in Borgo Panigale for their great effort. We’ll do our best to stay at this level also in Portimão.”
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WSBK Press Office
Lausitzring Day Three
Davies dominates to take double in Germany
Ducati secure double podium with Rea continuing podium run
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) wrapped up a superb weekend on Sunday with his second victory of the Prosecco DOC German Round in Race 2, whilst Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) also secured podium results.
With light rain falling during the final laps the WorldSBK riders had to focus hard in order to avoid any mistakes and Davies did just that to register a third victory in four races at Lausitzring. Coming from the back of the third row on the grid the Welshman ultimately beat Rea across the line by 2.29s, with Melandri just over two further seconds back having held the lead early in the race.
Despite setting pole on Saturday Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) could not stay with the front three on this occasion and finished in fourth place having started Race 2 in seventh on the grid.
The results saw World Champion and standings leader Rea open up a 70-point gap over his teammate Sykes in the standings with four rounds to go.
Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) just beat Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) to fifth by 0.237s, with five Britons finishing in the top six.
Just behind them on the finish line was Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) as the top Aprilia-equipped rider, just trailing Camier by 0.115s in that tight group also involving Lowes.
Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team), German wildcard Markus Reiterberger (Van Zon Remeha BMW) and Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) completed the top ten. A brave ride by Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) saw him finish 13th, after he missed Race 1 due to severe elbow pain from a crash on Friday.
Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Pawel Szkopek (Pazera Racing) all crashed out, with Riccardo Russo (Pedercini Racing SC-Project) also suffering a DNF as a late retiree.
The WorldSBK grid return to action in just under a month (15th-17th September) at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão, Portugal.
1st – Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“It’s incredible, I knew the second race was going to be tighter, it was hard to come from the third row, I made some good passe out there and had a lot of fun. It was a a case of setting my won rhythm, we had a lot of fast sections but they were quicker than me in other sections and for that reason it was harder to get away, but I made some good passes and got the job done.”
2nd – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)
“It was as much as we could expect, I really emptied the tank in that race, the bike is so easy to ride here so I gave it 100% to bring the fight to Chaz. I did all I could to stay with him but he was so fast and I was beaten by a better guy today and we look forward to the next one.”
3rd – Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“After yesterday I couldn’t believe to inish on the podium today but the team made an awesome job, a fwe orenrs it was too slow, i couldnt open the throttle too mich but I am happy ith the result and thanks to all the guys.”
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