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A memorable weekend for Ducati

Monday, 21 August 2017 08:08 GMT

The Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team got two wins and a further podium result in Germany

It was a highly successful Prosecco DOC German Round for the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team as Chaz Davies delivered a double victory at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz and his teammate Marco Melandri joined him on the podium in Race 2.

Sunday was perhaps the more impressive of Davies’ two victories at Round 9 as he came from ninth on the grid to win again, whilst his rivals were desperate to beat him after his Saturday success.

Thanks to a strong start, Davies pulled away together with his teammate Melandri and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), and took the lead on lap 11. He then made a decisive charge with five laps to go, as light rain started to fall, to take his sixth win of the year.

“It was a great race and I loved every minute of it,” said Davies on Sunday. “It was different from Saturday though, as we had to work our way up from the third row on the grid. We had a good start and in the first couple of laps we were within sight of the lead, so when I saw Rea making his move I tried to hunt down him and Marco. It wasn’t easy to pass them, but then I just tried to set my own pace, rode clean, and tried not to make mistakes.”

“I was surprised by our rhythm in the high 1’36 mark, we definitely improved since the tests here a month ago, and it shows the effort everyone is putting in. I’m confident going into Portimão, but we’ll enjoy this double for now and get prepared for another battle.”

Melandri also enjoyed a positive Sunday, bouncing back from a difficult Race 1 with a solid third place, his eighth podium of 2017. The Italian started from pole position and led the race for the first five laps, fighting for the victory for much of the race and showing significant improvements in terms of overall pace.

“After the issues we encountered on Saturday, I wouldn’t have thought we could take the podium here,” said the Italian. “But, we did a great job together with the team, changing the weight distribution and the overall balance of the bike. The Panigale R was much easier to ride today, and I felt comfortable. Unfortunately, the bike still moved a lot in a couple of corners and I was losing ground under acceleration. I tried to brake deeper to recover, but I made a couple of small mistakes and I decided to secure the podium, thinking back to what happened in Race 1 at Misano.”

“It’s been a positive round. We keep learning new things about the bike, and soon we’ll race on tracks that suit my riding style better. I’m confident ahead of the next rounds.”