The pairing round out the top ten in the championship, with eight rounds and 16 races gone. After some recent engine modifications the Petronas machine should be a more potent force at fast circuits like Assen than ever before.
In a championship with more than its fair share of competitive machinery on which to compete, the Ducati 999 and 998 series machines still predominate at the top of the table.
Ducatis have long been the weapon of choice for the private teams in SBK and despite a recent rise in competitiveness of the multi-cylinder Japanese machines, most operate on Ducatis in the top ten positions.
The balance of power is slowly shifting, however, if we look outside the top ten places. Marco Borciani is 11th on the eve of Assen but the thrust of Kawasaki Bertocchi's 1000cc machinery has put the ZX-10R pilots Mauro Sanchini and Ivan Clementi 11th and 12th overall.
The Zong Shen Suzuki of Piergiorgio Bontempi has steadily gathered points to the point of being 14th, ahead of former Supersport rider Gianluca Nannelli.
