Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) flexed his muscles in Tissot Superpole 2 at the Prosecco DOC German Round on Saturday morning to register another pole position result, this time with a new WorldSBK Lausitzring record lap of 1’36.121.

His teammate Jonathan Rea and Milwaukee Aprilia rider Lorenzo Savadori also slotted in on the front row.

After setting record pace on Friday Sykes kept the momentum up with a superb SP2 performance to celebrate his birthday in style, putting him +0.213s ahead of his closest rival Rea.

The pole lap was nearly two seconds quicker than last year’s record. Just over a tenth of a second down on Rea in third place was Savadori, highlighting the significant progress in pace which is being made by Aprilia.

The second row features Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies in fourth and sixth respectively, with the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati pair sandwiching fifth placed Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team).

SP2 at the #GermanWorldSBK round also saw Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) qualify on the third row.

Meanwhile the fourth row is set to comprise wildcard Markus Reiterberger (Van Zon Remeha BMW), Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) and Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team).

The two riders to have made it through from SP1 were van der Mark and Fores, with the Dutchman topping that session thanks to a 1'37.518 lap and the Spaniard following him into SP2 by a margin of +0.513.

Race 1 at the Prosecco DOC German Round takes place at 1pm local time (GMT+2) on Saturday, followed by Race 2 at 1pm on Sunday.

As the WorldSBK riders returned to action after their summer break at the Prosecco DOC German Round Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) topped the Friday timesheets with a new lap record of 1’37.172 around the Lausitzring track.

Sykes’ colleague Jonathan Rea and the Kawasaki Racing Team duo’s Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rival Chaz Davies were also in the top three.

Sykes also led the way in FP1 with a 1’37.337 lap which was also under the previous lap record, before going even faster in the afternoon. Sykes then crashed in FP2 at turn 4, but was not adversely affected by the accident.

In an incident packed FP2 session the riders had carried out just under 25 minutes of practice before the red flag came out following a crash for Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) at turn 14. As marshals worked to clean the track a further disruption was then caused by heavy rain - which led to a delay of over an hour in restarting the session.

Earlier in the day in clear conditions at the 4.255km Lausitzring track Sykes had set a rapid pace on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR with that aforementioned new lap record, whilst Rea was +0.167s behind him and Davies was marginally slower, being +0.189s off P1. Neither Rea nor Davies would improve in FP2 and therefore ultimately ended the day +0.332s and +0.354s behind Sykes respectively.

Milwaukee Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori was fourth fastest on the combined timesheets thanks to his best FP1 time and in the afternoon Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) moved into the top five.

Savadori’s Milwaukee Aprilia teammate Eugene Laverty was sixth fastest overall. Meanwhile, returning to WorldSBK for a wildcard ride at Round 9 Germany’s Markus Reiterberger (Van Zon Remeha BMW) placed as the top BMW rider in seventh overall.

The combined Friday top ten also featured Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team).

Friday welcomed an opening day full of mixed weather conditions as the World SBK returns from the summer break, and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) ended the day on top, breaking the lap record along the way.

The British rider was thrilled to have the pace in Germany, and has hailed his team for their fast work at fixing his bike following a crash in FP2.

With a strong pace throughout the day, Sykes was able to get his faTom st lap in before the rain hit the German circuit, and with a lap time of 1.3.337, he is confident he can work on a few issues come Saturday.

Sykes was thrilled with his pace on the opening day:"What can I say, just a big thanks to the Kawasaki Racing Team and all my boys, the ZX-10RR is working really well. We had a really great test here, found a lot of good information and straight away in FP1 – the track itself wasn’t as good as the test but we were able to make some good lap times and have some consistency."

"The feedback from Pirelli tyres is good, I’m getting good warnings and good information. Went into FP2, tried a couple of different things and very happy with today’s performance and looking forward to tomorrow where we can hope to keep the momentum going"

As the WorldSBK action resumed after a summer break at the Prosecco German Round on Friday morning it was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) who led the way with a 1’37.337 lap in FP1.

Also in the top three were Sykes’ teammate Jonathan Rea and the Kawasaki Racing Team pair’s Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rival Chaz Davies.

In good conditions around the 4.255km Lausitzring track Englishman Sykes set the pace on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR, with Rea +0.167s behind him and Davies marginally slower at +0.189s off P1.

Milwaukee Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori was fourth fastest, with his colleague Eugene Laverty also marking a top five time.

On his return to the WorldSBK paddock for a wildcard ride this weekend German rider Markus Reiterberger (Van Zon Remeha BMW) did well in sixth place as the top BMW equipped participant in FP1.

The top ten was completed by Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team).

The riders will be back on track for FP2 at the Prosecco DOC German Round at 2.30pm local time.