Lausitzring WorldSBK Sunday Race Day Guide
Statistics by Michele Merlino
Tissot-Superpole – Chaz Davies (Race 1: Winner)
This is the 3rd career pole for Chaz Davies and the 100th for Great Britain in WorldSBK history.
This was also the 170th pole for Ducati, which started from the top spot at the Lausitzring five times out of six, missing out only in 2007, when in a wet qualifying session, Fonsi Nieto recorded his only ever career pole, and the only pole for Kawasaki in the 1998-2009 period.
Davies went on to dominate Race 1, confirming the scenario of his two previous poles at Laguna Seca in 2015 and Imola in 2016: he led all the laps in these five races.
Davies won for the third time on German soil after his maiden win at the Nurburgring in 2012 and another win at that same track in 2013 for BMW. He is only the third rider able to do so after Troy Corser (3 wins in Australia and Spain for Aprilia, Ducati and Suzuki) and Marco Melandri (wins in Motorland for Yamaha and BMW and in Jerez for Aprilia).
Davies won Race 1 with an advantage of 10’561 over his nearest competitor: that is the largest margin since the second race in Magny Cours, 2013, when Tom Sykes won with 11’091 over Eugene Laverty. Only 39 races out of 713 in WorldSBK history saw a greater margin between winner and the second-placed rider.
Going into Race 2, Davies is looking for his third double win of the year after Aragon and Imola.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) 1st
“After such a long break, I was a bit apprehensive before our first race, but today everything worked out perfectly since Superpole. The two tests done during the summer proved to be crucial, because we found once again the feeling I had missed in a few races this year. Thanks to my team and Ducati, we now have a package that I feel ‘mine’ again. I was confident about my pace, but honestly I’m surprised with the gap. It’s not impossible to cut our deficit in the championship, we saw that everyone can make mistakes so we’ll try to win as many races as we can until the end of the season, without worrying too much about the standings.”
2nd – Tom Sykes (Race 1: 2nd)
55th career front row for Tom Sykes, one more than Troy Bayliss and closing on the second all-time spot held by Carl Fogarty (60).
Sykes recorded pole at all the current circuits except for Buriram and Lausitz: in both of them his best result is a 2nd on the grid.
This was Sykes’ ninth appearance on the front row this year, already the same number he recorded both last year and two years ago. His season record is 13 front row appearances, scored in 2012, which is also an all-time record held jointly with Giancarlo Falappa (1992), Scott Russell (1993), Troy Bayliss (2008) and Ben Spies (2009).
In Race 1, Sykes scored his 79th career podium: he occupies the 7th all-time spot, behind his teammate Jonathan Rea (82).
This was Sykes’ seventh straight podium, and in Race 2 he has the chance to equal his career best – a string of eight – recorded in 2013 from Motorland/2 to Algarve/1.
Thanks to Sykes, Kawasaki equalled their longest run of races on the podium – now 23 – the same they had recorded from Losail 2014/1 to Jerez 2015/1.
Sykes’ gap in the championship standings to leader Jonathan Rea is now 26 points: this year he was closer to the top only after the first race, when Rea had 25 points and Sykes 11 (+14). His maximum deficit in the standings this season was 70 points after Race 2 in Sepang.
3rd – Nicky Hayden (Race 1: 3rd)
Round 10 was Nicky Hayden’s maiden front row appearance, making him the 17th American rider with at least one front row start in WorldSBK history. The U.S. rider with most front row qualifying positions is Colin Edwards with 48.
4th – Lorenzo Savadori (Race 1: DNF)
Fourth on the grid was the second-best result for Lorenzo Savadori in his WorldSBK career after the third in Donington. For the first time Savadori recorded back-to-back DNFs as he was victim of a crash also in the second Laguna Seca race.
Other notes
• Fifth on the grid was the best qualifying result this season for Jordi Torres, which went on to equal his best race result as well, with a fourth he had scored in the first race in Imola this year. Torres will be looking for his 20th consecutive race finish in a point scoring position in Race 2.
• A disappointing Saturday for reigning World Champion Jonathan Rea, who recorded his worst grid spot (6th) since Malaysia last year (7th). Race 1 was even worse as he recorded his first back-to-back race outside the points (he also retired in the second Laguna Seca race) since 2011, when his drought lasted three races (Imola Race 2 and both races in Magny Cours).
• A Kawasaki bike has finished within point scoring positions in the last 109 races.
• In Race 1 Chaz Davies recorded the 330th fastest race lap in the history of Ducati.
Championship Standings After Race 1 Round 10
- Jonathan Rea Kawasaki Racing Team 368 points
- Tom Sykes Kawasaki Racing Team 342 points
- Rider Name Full Team Name 285 points
