Today’s World Superbikes opening free practice at the Ring saw Althea Ducati’s Davide Giugliano pip both title rivals Max Biaggi and Marco Melandri with his flying last lap of 1.
56.
395 and grab the top of the timesheets.
With the championship in its final decisive three rounds, and Marco Melandri leading in the standings after the Moscow round, Max Biaggi cannot afford to make any further mistakes and the Aprilia rider was unusually fast in practice (he usually works on set-up and doesn’t chase lap times) as he was second, just 0.
133 adrift followed by his fellow countryman and rival on the BMW machine who took third.
With three Italians in the top three, fourth place went to Jonathan Rea (who just finished two days of intense testing the Honda RC213V at Aragon preparing the two upcoming MotoGP rounds) and Tom Sykes was fifth, but the Kawasaki rider and Melandri more or less dominated the 45 minute session until the final minutes.
Sylvain Guintoli finished in 6th with his Pata Ducati, while Carlos Checa, who now seems out of the running for the championship title, was 7th followed by Leon Camier who put his Suzuki into 8th, while Leon Haslam was the last rider to be within a second from Giugliano.
Eugene Laverty closed out the top ten despite suffering an early crash.
Suprise entry Lorenzo Lanzi who is replacing Jakub Smrz in Liberty Racing was 20th, Pedercini’s David Salom who will be replacing Ivan Silva in Avintia Blusens CRT team starting next weekend at Misano was 19th.
while returning Brett McCormick closed out the timesheet (Liberty Racing skipped the Moscow round due to financial difficulties).
WSBK Nurburgring FP1 Results:01- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – 1’56.
395 02- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.
133 03- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.
206 04- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.
285 05- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.
473 06- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 0.
615 07- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.
774 08- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.
864 09- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.
959 10- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.
064 11- Michel Fabrizio – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 1.
155 12- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.
247 13- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 1.
450 14- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 1.
693 15- Maxime Berger – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 1.
709 16- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.
733 17- Niccolò Canepa – Red Devils Roma – Ducati 1198 – + 1.
873 18- John Hopkins – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 2.
363 19- David Salom – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 2.
835 20- Lorenzo Lanzi – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 3.
241 21- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 3.
363 22- Alexander Lundh – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 4.
542 23- Norino Brignola – Grillini Progea Superbike Team – BMW S1000RR – + 4.
832 24- Brett McCormick – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 5.
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