The first day of track action at Lausitzring proved to be tough and competitive from the start and was held in warm and dry conditions. Not present on the WorldSBK calendar for almost a decade, Lausitzring proved a tough challenge for all on day one, leading to some unusual results in the overall timesheets.
With no full test sessions on their Ninja ZX-10R machines at Lausitz in the summer months, just some track time on street or lightly modified street machines, much of today was taken up by finding optimum gearing and race pace on the full WorldSBK machinery. Tom and Jonathan competed for their best early lap times on a track surface that has proved to be bumpy in places.
Sykes improved his pace at the end of the second hour of free practice to go third overall. He was just 0.108 seconds from the best time. One optimum lap was enough to put him into the leading mix on the time sheets and he now looks to extend his win tally for the season, starting on Saturday.
Despite being only 0.547 seconds from the top Friday qualifying time championship leader Rea finished up 11th, leaving him one extra Superpole session to complete before going for his final grid position in Superpole 2.
Soon after Superpole Tom, Jonathan and all their peers will be taking on the challenge of race one on Saturday afternoon, with race two following on Sunday – as per the 2016 weekend schedule. Jonathan has scored eight race wins so far this year and Tom five.
Tom Sykes, stated: “We have made so many changes today. We had a test here on a standard Ninja ZX-10R, which was useful in a way, but as soon as I jumped on the racebike this morning the circuit was so much different. That said, in some ways it was easier than I expected on the racebike. I struggled at times to find speed this morning but in the end we found something and we have to be happy with the set-up we have. It is great how close and competitive the field is today. I feel we are quite fast and quite consistent, and I am looking forward to tomorrow. Unfortunately it looks like we have some bad weather approaching. If that is the case we will start again with set-up tomorrow in the wet. We already have good feeling in the dry, so we will be ready for the races.”
Jonathan Rea, stated: “It is not an ideal position to start the weekend from because it makes it more difficult tomorrow, having to go through Superpole 1 first, but it is how it is. I did not have the best feeling when I got here and the bike is not turning so well in the long corners. We have tried some things but I do not think this position is a true reflection of our overall race speed. I feel quite comfortable and we just need to find some improvements in turning to be right at the front. I am half a second off the front and in 11th position. It looks like it will be a competitive weekend, which is good. There should be a lot of people in the mix. Tonight, when we have more time to understand our data and my comments, we can make some positive changes to be ready for tomorrow.”
Behind the leading two Ninja ZX-10R riders in the field today, Anthony West (Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) was 14th and Roman Ramos (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) 19th. Gianluca Vizziello (Grillini Racing Team) placed 21st, Dominic Schmitter (Grillini Racing Kawasaki) 23rd and Saeed Al Sulaiti (Pedercini Racing Team) was 24th.