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HONDA RACING INFORMATION
ZitatAlles anzeigenFIM SUPERBIKE / SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 10 SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 04 NÜRBURGRING, GERMANY PREVIEW
REA BACK FROM INJURY AS TAMADA REPLACES XAUS
Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) will return to his regular spot in the 2011 FIM Superbike World Championship during the tenth round at the Nürburgring this coming weekend, having now recovered from injuries suffered during the San Marino round in mid-June.
Jonathan was sixth in the championship standings at that stage, but has now unavoidably dropped to 12th in the rankings, despite being one of only five race winners after 18 individual races in
2011 so far. Rea comes back to action having enjoyed a two-day test at Assen that proved he is fit to ride in Germany after his long period of recuperation and intense physiotherapy.Experienced Superbike rider Makoto Tamada (Castrol Honda) will join Rea on track this weekend after the team test at Assen confirmed that Castrol Honda team regular Ruben Xaus is not fully fit to race at present, having suffered a back injury in the Brno round that has not healed sufficiently to allow him to compete in Germany.
Tamada is a three-time race winner in this category, early in his career at his home rounds in Sugo, Japan. Despite spending much of his career in MotoGP with Honda his experience of the Superbike World Championship now runs to 49 race starts.
FORET LEADS HONDA CHARGE AFTER LONG SUMMER BREAK
Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) is the top ranked Honda rider in the 2011 FIM Supersport World Championship as the series restarts after its four-weekend summer break and heads to the classic Nürburgring in Germany for the ninth round. Fabien is now third overall, three points behind second place and 45 points from the lead.
Having suffered injury and misfortune in the early races of the year the 2002 champion for Honda has pushed himself up the rankings with five podium finishes in eight starts. His next ambition is to take his first race victory of the
2011 season, to add to his career win total of 12.After not scoring at his home round of
Silverstone last time out Sam Lowes (Parkalgar
Honda) is keen to get back on track and return to the kind of form that has seen him take three podiums, and a near win first time out in Australia. He is sixth overall at present, leading up two more Honda riders, Gino Rea (Step Racing Honda) and Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing Honda). Each of these two combative riders has had a remarkable season in many ways already, with Harms often the top Honda rider in the rankings despite having a very small overall race budget and Rea having taken his debut WSS win at his team’s home round at Brno in July, after scoring a podium in his own home race at Donington in March.Class rookie Florian Marino (Hannspree Ten Kate
Honda) joined his team-mate Foret for a test at Assen recently and feels he has made a major breakthrough in finding a set-up that will allow him to compete over race distance, this weekend and beyond.For James Ellison (Bogdanka PTR Honda) the German race will be another opportunity to get to the podium levels of combined bike and rider performance that his experience suggests are possible. After some very bad luck at some key points of the year James is 12th, one place behind Marino and one place ahead of the ever-improving Portuguese rider, Miguel Praia (Parkalgar Honda).
A great seventh place at Silverstone for Balazs Nemeth (Team Hungary Toth Honda) put him up to 14th overall, the last of eight Honda riders in the top 14 places. Alexander Lundh (Cresto Guide
Honda) sits 16th with Vladimir Ivanov (Step Racing Team Honda) 18th. Imre Toth (Team Hungary Toth Honda) continues just inside the top 20, as Pawel Szkopek (Bogdanka PTR Honda) is now 22nd with four rounds remaining, including the Nürburgring.HONDA RIDER COMMENTS:
Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda)
“I can’t wait to get back on the bike in a race weekend situation at Nürburgring. The test at Assen last week was great for me to ride and work with the team again, but I’m really looking forward to doing it for real again this weekend.
Assen was also good from a confidence point of view, because the lap time was pretty good and I was able to complete a lot of laps without any pain from the wrist. Unfortunately, I’ve missed a few races because of the injury, but I’ve got a new target for the end of the season and I know what I need to do to achieve that. The good thing is that the guys have been working really hard back at base since I’ve been away, and there were some good new things to test last week. I’m really looking forward to using them this weekend.”Makoto Tamada (Castrol Honda)
“It's great to be back racing in the World Superbike series. I want to thank Castrol Honda for giving me this opportunity. I am looking forward to working with the team and Jonathan, and I’m also looking forward to meeting my European fans.”Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda)
“I have been training and preparing for the next round in the summer break. I am ready for it and we did a test at Assen, even if the weather was not really great on day two. It was enough for me to be ready and I have good memories of the German track from last year. Even though I finished on the podium at Silverstone I was not satisfied with the way I managed the race, so I hope in Germany it will be a little bit better.”Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda)
“The break is not too long, but as a rider you want to ride all the time. It is more to give the teams time to catch up rather than the riders, I think. The race at Silverstone did not go to plan, but as far as our speed was concerned, it was really good. I am looking forward to getting to the track in Germany because I have been to the place before and it should suit our bike. I want to aim for the win and get back on the podium.”Gino Rea (Step Racing Team Honda)
“I am ready and waiting! I’m a bit eager because the break has been way too long for me. I have not had the chance to ride in the summer break, but I have had a good three weeks of physical training instead. I may be a bit rusty in the first session, but our season is moving in a good direction again. We have not had a huge change in the bike this year, but it is just having better reliability and more track time in practice that has seen our results improve recently.”Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing Honda) “I really hope to continue the good feeling we had in Silverstone and to bring all the good things with us to Germany. We improved our engine on the test bench the best we could before the Silverstone race and we hope to make more of a difference with it on track at this race. I was very happy with it at the beginning at the season, but we struggled a lot with engine power in the middle. We do not have the kind of development that some of the teams we are fighting against have and we were a little bit behind in the mid-season. We are doing well even though we miss a lot of budget, but we keep it tight and that is what we are good at. Now I look forward to making the best possible results in the last four races of the year.”
Florian Marino (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) “I had some holiday at home and enjoyed some sunshine as well as lots of training, but we also went testing in Assen last week. It was really good for me and we did a 21-lap race simulation and the lap times were quite close. We found the solution to save my energy and be more consistent in the races. At Silverstone after eight laps I was finished and the tyre was gone, so we have found a good race set-up on the bike and that should be good for the Nürburgring. The second day of tests at Assen was rainy but I did some good laps, before we stopped. I am quite excited for the Nürburgring now.”
Miguel Praia (Parkalgar Honda)
“I stayed at home in Portugal during the break and it was nice to do so. After some time off I trained just as before in the past two weeks and the team has been working on the bike to try and keep the good pace we showed in Silverstone. We are looking forward to the Nürburgring and I have been missing the races already because four weekends off is a long break.”