Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) will start the 20-lap Superbike races at Nürburgring on Sunday from second position on the grid, with his team-mate Loris Baz also a strong qualifier, in eighth.

Sykes, twice a race winner on his official Ninja ZX-10R machine this year, was in contention for what would have been his eighth pole position start of the season, but he missed out on his best chance using fresh qualifying tyres in Superpole three, he did a further three laps and came close to eventual pole man Max Biaggi, only 0.049 seconds from him as the clock timed out.

For Baz, also a race winner in 2012, getting into the second Superpole session, and therefore guaranteeing a start on one of the front three rows is a consistent aim in his rookie season. He did more than that today and he went into the third and final Superpole session, and he now starts from the second row, in eighth place.

All competitors and spectators welcomed consistently dry and bright weather at the 5.137km Nürburgring circuit, through all of practice and qualifying. For Baz it was particularly important to help him and his crew find a good set-up for this challenging circuit, and each delivered in the chase for fast lap times.

Team Pedercini Kawasaki rider David Salom fell hard in the first Superpole session and has been taken to Koblenz Hospital for precautionary scans. Alexander Lundh (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) was 23rd in qualifying.

Superstock 1000 FIM Cup rider Bryan Staring (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) rode to pole on his Ninja ZX-10R, his first ever start from first place in this class. He has high hopes of going for another win on Sunday, to add to the two race victories he has scored this year already. MRS Kawasaki rider Jeremy Guarnoni was fourth on the grid.

Tom Sykes:

“It was interesting in Superpole because towards the end I thought I may as well give it one last go, even on a used qualifying tyre. I was disappointed with my first lap when the tyres were fresh and the last lap shows what maybe I could have done. I had one last go on lap four but the tyre ran out - which is normal because four laps on a qualifying tyre is not possible. We are in third place in the championship and the Kawasaki ZX-10R is working great and I am able to do a little bit more of what I want with the package, so we have proved that we can run at the front. Overall the season has gone well, but we are here now for another race and always improving. I am looking forward to the racing on Sunday. Not starting on pole position is very good because so far nobody has been able to convert it to a win yet. Starting in second place in Monza and Moscow was good and we can see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully the Kawasaki will be strong yet again.”

Loris Baz:

“We were looking to get into Superpole two and if everything was going well we would look to get into Superpole three. We did that so we must be very happy. We have worked well since the beginning of the weekend, even though we had some little set-up problems yesterday. This morning and in the second free practice we found a few settings that made the bike more comfortable for the race distance. In the afternoon I did two good long runs so I am really confident that we have found a lot of positive things for the race things. We have a really good race pace. It is the first time that I did everything good in Superpole and it went as we planned. I used a qualifier, a qualifier, then race tyre in the Superpole sessions and I did my best lap with the race tyre in Superpole three.”

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