But the drama was not over: a rain shower began shortly after the red flags were deployed, which further extended the break to approximately one hour and thirty minutes. As the session restarted, wet conditions made it impossible for any rider to improve their lap-times before the chequered flag.
Davide Giugliano picked up from where he left off here at Lausitzring three weeks ago in a test to continue his familiarisation with the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 machine. The 27-year-old from Rome tried different set-up options while assessing different ride heights, although his progression was affected by the aforementioned incidents of FP2. This robbed him of some much-needed dry track time.
World Superbike will return to action tomorrow morning with the 25-minute free practice 3 session, which will get underway at 8:45 local time (GMT +2), which will be followed by Superpole 1 (10:30) and race one (13:00).
Stefan Bradl 6
It was an unlucky day for us. After the long break I jumped back on the bike and felt pretty comfortable, which was really good if we consider that this is almost a new track for me. FP1 went well because the pace was good and so was the feeling with the Fireblade. We were ready to make more improvement in FP2 and made some changes to the bike and went back out on track with used tyres, but very soon we switched to a fresh set because we could see that it was going to rain. I was on a fast lap and feeling good, but then crashed on the oil left by Lowes’s bike. The crash came without warning, as I saw neither yellow nor oil flags. It was a quite big tumble and I landed on my left elbow. It is severely bruised on the joint, meaning I don’t have the full movement. Fortunately there is no fracture, but we need to wait and see how the situation will evolve through the night. It’s a shame, because I was feeling strong and it’s my home round, so I very much hope I can ride tomorrow.
Davide Giugliano 34
It’s been a strange day today. This morning we had to double-check everything from the previous test and get back into riding mode, although the feeling was still not quite not there. The Fireblade is still a very new bike to me despite the test we had three weeks ago, so all we needed was track time. We had some ideas in mind for the afternoon session but the red flag and the rain spoiled our plans. I’m still positive, though. Free Practice 3 tomorrow morning is going to be very important for us: if we make the right changes, then we’ll be back on course.
Pieter Breddels
Stefan did well in FP1: after the long break and after so much time since his last race here, he picked up the pace quite quickly and improved in each outing. Things were looking quite good in the afternoon, but unfortunately he crashed out on some other rider’s oil left on track: he had just gone out on a fresh set of tyres after spending most of his time on used ones. That’s a shame, really, and I hope he will be able to ride tomorrow. Davide’s morning session wasn’t easy. We made some changes to the bike in the morning but he had a difficult time in picking up speed. We had a plan to turn it around in the afternoon, but obviously the red flag first and the rain later didn’t help. We’ll have to make the most of tomorrow’s FP3 session in order to find a better direction for Superpole and the race.
German RoundLausitzring, Germany
WorldSBK 2017, Round 9
- Air Temp: 24 °C
- Humidity: 77%
- Ground Temp: 33°C
| # | Rider | Num | Nationality Nat. | Team | Constructor Constr. | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Sykes | 66 | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki | 1’37.172 |
| 2 | Jonathan Rea | 65 | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki | +0.332 |
| 3 | Chaz Davies | 7 | GBR | Aruba.it Racing | Ducati | +0.354 |
| 4 | Lorenzo Savadori | 32 | ITA | Milwaukee Aprilia | Aprilia | +0.549 |
| 5 | Marco Melandri | 33 | ITA | Aruba.it Racing | Ducati | +0.585 |
| 6 | Eugene Laverty | 50 | GBR | Milwaukee Aprilia | Aprilia | +0.708 |
| 7 | Markus Reiterberger | 21 | GER | Van Zon Remeha | BMW | +0.790 |
| 8 | Leon Camier | 2 | GBR | MV Agusta Reparto Corse | MV Agusta | +0.993 |
| 9 | Jordi Torres | 81 | SPA | Althea BMW Racing Team | BMW | +1.290 |
| 10 | Alex Lowes | 22 | GBR | Pata Yamaha | Yamaha | +1.298 |
| 11 | Michael van der Mark | 60 | NDL | Pata Yamaha | Yamaha | +1.369 |
| 12 | Stefan Bradl | 6 | GER | Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team | Honda | +1.622 |
| 13 | Xavi Fores | 12 | SPA | BARNI Racing Team | Ducati | +1.745 |
| 14 | Román Ramos | 40 | SPA | Team Go Eleven | Kawasaki | +1.812 |
| 15 | Raffaele De Rosa | 35 | ITA | Althea BMW Racing Team | BMW | +2.215 |
| 16 | Randy Krummenacher | 15 | SWI | Puccetti Racing | Kawasaki | +2.269 |
| 17 | Leandro Mercado | 36 | ARG | IodaRacing Team | Aprilia | +2.342 |
| 18 | Davide Giugliano | 34 | ITA | Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team | Honda | +2.486 |
| 19 | Ayrton Badovini | 86 | ITA | Grillini Racing Team | Kawasaki | +2.944 |
| 20 | Ondrej Jezek | 37 | CZE | Grillini Racing Team | Kawasaki | +3.416 |
| 21 | Riccardo Russo | 84 | ITA | Guandalini Racing | Yamaha | +3.560 |
| 22 | Massimo Roccoli | 55 | ITA | Guandalini Racing | Yamaha | +3.603 |
| 23 | Pawel Szkopek | 19 | POL | Pazera Racing | Yamaha | +3.698 |
