The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team is finalising preparations for the ninth round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship which gets underway tomorrow at the Lausitzring in Germany. This is the home race for Stefan Bradl who is joined this time out by Davide Giugliano.
Despite this event being on home turf, the last time Bradl raced at Lausitzring was back in 2005, when he was competing in the 125cc class of the German Championship. After the long summer break, the 27-year-old from Augsburg is looking forward to getting back on the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 and building on the progress shown in race two at Laguna Seca last month.
Davide Giugliano joins the team for the German round as he makes his return to the championship for the first time since the season finale in Qatar of last year. The experienced yet still young rider from Rome, Italy, took part in a two-day private test with the team at the Lausitzring three weeks ago, where he sampled the new Fireblade for the first time.
World Superbike action will begin tomorrow morning for the first free practice session at 9:45 local time (GMT +2).
Stefan Bradl 6
I’m looking forward to my home race of the season and to return to action after the summer break. It’s going to be important for me to do well in front of the German crowd – the home round always gives local riders extra motivation – and it will be interesting to see how we will perform here at Lausitzring. I can’t say I know the track too well: I have raced there two or three times but it was long time ago, so I’m curious to see how this track will be with a big bike. I hope I can adapt quite quickly because the other top riders have tested here recently, so they will have a head start. There will be a lot of work to do but I hope we’ll have a good race weekend.
– Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team
Davide Giugliano 34
This is my first World Superbike race of the season so of course there are some things I need to adjust back to. The most important thing for the round is to work well with the team and have a step-by-step approach with the bike, in order to keep improving in each and every session. The track is a unique one and hopefully the weather will be on our side, but in any case I’m really looking forward to getting started!
– Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team
Pieter Breddels
We are finally back in action at Lausitzring after the summer break. We are happy to have Davide with us for the round to race alongside Stefan, after the positive test he had there three weeks ago. We were able to evaluate some new material for the Fireblade, including different bodywork and a few updates to the software. We are focused and motivated to do well with both riders and see what this weekend will bring.
– Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team
