The 3C Racing Team's debut season in the SUPERBIKE*IDM ended in Hockenheim. Xavi Forés (ESP), Max Neukirchner (D) and Lorenzo Lanzi (I) have raised the top class series to a new level this year. The trio won 11 of the 15 races in the season on their Ducati 1199 Panigale R machines.

The favourite for the title, Xavi Forés, twice came in second at the final meeting watched by 12,000 spectators. The crowd was able to acknowledge him as International German Superbike champion of 2014 after the first race. The Spaniard did not take any further risks on the way to his triumph.

It was still mathematically possible for his teammate Max Neukirchner from Stollberg in Saxony to steal the title from Forés. However, with 26 points in arrears behind the leader before the final meeting, his theoretical chances depended on Forés dropping out all together. Neukirchner came in third and fourth in the two races on the 3,624 metre long track in Hockenheim. He is runner-up in the Superbike class.

It could hardly have been a better end to the season for Lorenzo Lanzi, who did not join the team until mid-way through the season. He was lying in third position in the first race when his front wheel collapsed. Quickly recovering from his fall, he made amends by winning the second race, his first victory in the SUPERBIKE*IDM.

The victory celebrations were short because the 3C Racing Team crew packed up the same evening to set off again for Mugello. The riders are practising there at the moment for the impending Superbike World Championship.

Xavi Forés: "I'm just so happy to finally get my hands on the winner's trophy. I didn't really know what to expect in the SUPERBIKE*IDM at the start of the season, but after I won my first race at the Lausitzring, I then wanted the title. It means a great deal to me and I've worked very hard to achieve it."

Lorenzo Lanzi: "I hadn't expected to win at the start of the race. It was difficult to find the right line in the rain and to get past opponents. Still, I'm delighted that I made the most of the last chance on offer this year."

Karsten Jerschke, team boss: "That was a wonderful season for us in the SUPERBIKE*IDM, with the best riders, the best mechanics, the best bikes and the best organisation. We've achieved our goal of winning the championship in Germany's highest motorbike racing class. We'll carry on next year in one form or another. The decision will be taken in the next few weeks."

During a rainy practice session, Xavi Forés rode the fastest lap of 1:31.487 min on his Ducati 1199 Panigale R and thus started from pole position. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Markus Reiterberger (BMW) and Max Neukirchner. Their 3C teammate Lorenzo Lanzi (I) qualified as fifth fastest and started from row two.

Lanzi got off to a perfect start in the first race. He took the lead even before the riders entered the first bend, but was soon overtaken again by Forés. The Spaniard then opened up a gap to the chasing group with only Reiterberger able to keep up with him. The race was decided on lap 16 of 21. Whilst Forés was held up by a pack of tailenders, Reiterberger seized his chance and swept past him. Forés eventually crossed the finish line in second place, Neukirchner came in third and Lanzi ended up fourth to complete the fellowship of the Ducati trio. This result meant that the 3C Racing Team riders ensured the constructors' title for Ducati even before the second race started. They were watched by Superbike Championship project head Ernesto Marinelli, who had travelled to the Lausitzring especially for the event. After the second race, Reiterberger once again took top spot on the victory rostrum between Forés and Neukirchner, although this time the Ducati riders swapped places. The 3C Racing Team did not want to take any risks and changed tyres as the track started to dry out, so as not to endanger their impending title victory in Hockenheim.

Xavi Forés: "That was the dress rehearsal for the showdown in Hockenheim. If I'd started on intermediate tyres like Reiterberger, I may well have won today. However, our mission is to win the title and not to take any needless risks."

The 3C Racing Team riders laid the cornerstone for this dream result in the Superpole qualification on Saturday afternoon. Xavi Forés secured pole position with a time of 1:36.824 ahead of Max Neukirchner and Lorenzo Lanzi. The front line of the grid was thus completely occupied by the 3C Racing Team – one marque, one team, three nationalities. That has never happened before in the history of the IDM.

After the 3C trio got off to a superb start in the race on Sunday morning, spectators at the Circuit van Drenthe in Assen were treated to an exciting contest, in which positions changed hands several times. Right from lap one, Xavi Forés started to put daylight between himself and a chasing group made up of Max Neukirchner, Lorenzo Lanzi and Markus Reiterberger (BMW). The Spaniard steadily extended his lead and his sixth victory of the season was never really in doubt. The neck-a-neck battle between the pursuing pack was only decided on the penultimate lap, when both Ducati riders managed to overtake defending champion Markus Reiterberger and turn the race into a perfect Ducati triumph.

The customary second leg of the Superbike meeting had to be called off for reasons of safety after torrential rain flooded parts of the course in just a matter of minutes.

Max Neukirchner: "That's a great result for the team. I was involved in a tough scrap with Markus Reiterberger. He had a slight advantage on the long straights, but I was able to make up for that in the last sector. It's just a pity that the second race was cancelled. I'm sure that I could have kept up with Xavi with a little more luck at the start."

Team boss Karsten Jerschke: "Three Ducati riders on the rostrum is a dream result. I never expected to achieve it so soon, especially as it was only the second outing on the bike for Lorenzo. This result in Assen demonstrates that we have quickly become a force to be reckoned in motorbike racing with our technical know-how and manpower."

The next SUPERBIKE*IDM meeting will be held at the Lausitzring from 12th to 14th September 2014. It will be a premiere. Germany's highest road bike racing series will hold a joint meeting with cars for the first time. Riders in the Superbike and Superstock 1000 classes will start as part of the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) event.

Watched by an enthusiastic crowd of almost 25,000 spectators at temperatures in excess of 30°C, Max Neukirchner achieved two start-to-finish victories. He won the first race with a lead of 11.469 seconds over Xavi Forés, the second by a 5.9 second margin. Xavi Forés still heads the overall leader board in the Superbike class and added another 40 points to his tally in Schleiz. Team colleague Max Neukirchner extended his lead over Markus Reiterberger (BMW) by 9 points to 27 in all.

It could hardly have been a better debut for new 3C team rider Lorenzo Lanzi as the Italian had only had a single day to get to know the Panigale. The team, the bike and the layout of the course (with 14 bends spread over 3.805 kilometres and run in anticlockwise direction) were all uncharted territory for Lanzi. However, he soon found the right line along the corn fields and past the residential estates in Schleiz, and was rewarded for his efforts with fourth place in the second race.

Max Neukirchner: "They were two hard-fought races, although I lastly managed to win both with a bit to spare. At the end of the first race I slowed down a little, so as not to take any risks when lapping the back markers."

Xavi Forés: "The truth is that Max was in better form than me this weekend. Nevertheless, I'm still delighted to collect another 40 championship points."

The next round of the SUPERBIKE*IDM will be held from 8th to 10th August 2014 in Assen (NL).

Despite his experience in the Superbike World Championship, having finished seventh in 2007, Lanzi is now entering unknown territory. Although he knows the marque well having been a Ducati rider for many years, this will be his premiere on an 1199 Panigale R. The team are holding a one-day practice session at the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben before he makes his SUPERBIKE*IDM debut at the Schleizer Dreieck course.

The 3C Racing Team has registered Lorenzo Lanzi as a permanent rider in Germany's top motorbike road racing series, so he is eligible to win points. After his debut at the beginning of the second half of the season on the Schleizer Dreieck track (18th to 20th July 2014), he will go on to race in Assen, on the Lausitzring course and in Hockenheim.

The third rider in the team is also expected to be in the fight for places on the victors' rostrum. His colleagues Forés and Neukirchner lead the championship after four from eight events with 177 and 146 points respectively.

Apart from its commitment to sport on two wheels, the high-tech 3C-Carbon company based in Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria primarily uses the SUPERBIKE*IDM as a platform to develop new structural components made of carbon fibre and similar light materials. The aim is to test these under hard competitive conditions, in order to use the knowledge gained for series production at a later date.