Podiums at the Nurburgring were something of a family affair with Eugene Laverty bagging a brace, standing alongside his future brother-in-law Chaz Davies not once but twice while in Britain, Laverty elder Michael also took a pair of rostrums spots with second and third.

Davies’ sister Jodi is long-time girlfriend of Michael, an MCE British Superbike contender but there were no formalities at the Nurburgring in the first race when Chaz and Eugene were locked together – a mistake from the Welshman letting Laverty junior re-take second spot just minutes from the end.

“Two great races, without a doubt. In race one I was struggling at the beginning and the bike was sliding around a lot, so I had to wait a few laps before I could really start pushing. Toward the end I had to defend against Chaz's attacks and I managed to hold onto second place,” said Eugene.

“In race two when Tom Sykes overtook me it cost me a few seconds but then I was able to recover and, with the contribution of Max and Melandri's crashes, I found myself within a shout of the podium. At that point I had to fend off Camier's attacks, but Chaz had already run away at the front. I'm quite happy with the two second places for Aprilia and I'd like to congratulate Chaz on a well deserved victory.”

Davies said: “We've come a long way this season to get to this point I never expected to win a race this season. WSBK is a tough class with great competitors that have a lot of experience. We had a really tough start to the year with injuries and bucket loads of bad luck but we've kept working hard and I've learnt how to ride this bike so it's all developed quite naturally."

Live from Donington Park, Michael added: "These have been solid results though I gave myself a lot of work with the tumble and third row start for the first race but after a poor start I was back in the hunt and scoring a podium credit point. In the second race I made a little mistake and that gave Josh Brookes half a second. He rode strongly all weekend but we worked hard and going into the Showdown and I am looking forward to going to Assen.”