After an almost three week hiatus, World Superbike will be returning to action this weekend at the iconic Nurburgring circuit.
Leading the standings is Sylvain Guintoli by 13 points over Tom Sykes, and the Aprilia rider used the summer break to recover from a dislocated shoulder that he sustained in a bicycle accident ahead of last July’s Moscow round.
Guintoli preferred physiotherapy instead of undergoing surgery, after he was told that his recovery time would be unknown, so he decided to postpone the operation until the end of the season.
Nurburgring is a good track for the Aprilia RSV4 as in 2012 five of the six podiums last year were taken by Aprilia riders, with Max Biaggi and Chaz Davies each taking a win a piece.
“After 3 weeks off the bike and concentrating my energy on recovering as much as possible from the shoulder injury, I feel ready to take up the championship fight in the final 5 rounds. This is the final straight line to the end of the season and I am excited to see how much progress the shoulder has made. The answer will be Sunday”, said Guintoli.
Eugene Laverty’s double podium at Silverstone brought him up to the third in the standing, and the Northern Irishman is looking to close the points gap on his rivals this weekend.
Eugene Laverty said. “I’ve enjoyed the summer break but I’m ready to get back to racing. We now have five rounds in eight weeks to finish the season and I feel that these are the most important two months of my career to date. My teammate Sylvain, Tom Sykes, and Marco Melandri will be tough to beat in the title race but I intend to give it my all. Nurburgring is a really strong circuit for the Aprilia and so I hope to gain points on my championship rivals this weekend”.
from TWOWHEELSBLOG
