Lorenzo Zanetti and Michael van der Mark finished in fourth and fifth places respectively in the tenth-round World Supersport championship race at the Nürburgring in Germany this afternoon.

The 19-lap race around the 5.137km circuit was won by series leader Sam Lowes after his closest challenger Kenan Sofuoglu crashed out of contention. Starting from fifth place on the grid, Zanetti was battling in a podium position for much of the race but a small error two laps from the end saw him slip back a place.

It was a different race for van der Mark, who started from the fourth row after set-up issues and bad weather affected his qualifying performance. The 20-year-old Dutch ace dropped back to 16th in the opening laps but fought his way through the pack impressively to fifth, retaining fourth place in the points standings.

Lorenzo Zanetti – 4th

I have not been 100% fit this weekend, but after Silverstone I had some confidence. I wasn’t sure we could fight for the podium here but I like the circuit and we made some good steps. We changed completely the front of the bike after warm-up this morning. It was a big change and I started the race without trying it, which was a bit strange. Two laps before the end I made a mistake and I lost the podium position but before this I had a good rhythm and was staying with the front guys. I feel positive for Turkey and the rest of the season.

Michael van der Mark – 5th

My start was not so good and I probably released the clutch a little bit too fast. In the fourth corner a rider in front of me made a stupid move and cut right across me so I had to close the throttle. Everybody passed me and then I was 16th, I think. I had to push all through the race and, although I had the pace for the podium, I lost too much time and too many positions at the start.

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

Michael started from quite a way back and then had to come back from 16th after not such a good first lap. To fight back to fifth was another amazing achievement and he showed again what he can do on the bike. Lorenzo also had a good race but couldn’t quite hold on to third place. He fought all through the race, though, and the result was a good achievement.

2013 World Supersport championship, round 10

Nürburgring, Germany – 5.137km, 19 laps

Race result:

1 Sam Lowes (GBR) Yamaha

2 Fabien Foret (FRA) Kawasaki

3 Kevin Coghlan (GBR) Kawasaki

4 Lorenzo Zanetti (ITA) Pata Honda

5 Michael van der Mark (NED) Pata Honda

6 Ricardo Russo (ITA) Kawasaki

Championship points after 10 of 14 rounds:

1 Lowes 185, 2 Sofuoglu 131, 3 Foret 121, 4 van der Mark 91, 5 Zanetti 86, 6 Scassa 69. Next round: Istanbul, Turkey – 13-15 September