Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli takes the World Superbike points lead to the Nurburgring.

The World Superbike Championship resumes at Germany’s hallowed Nurburgring this weekend, with Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli and Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes to continue their top-of-table battle.

The three week Summer break has riders refocused for the five-round run to the chequered flag, and Aprilia’s Guintoli is eager to keep the lead after wrestling it back from Sykes.

He’s experienced a tough run of late, with a shoulder injury slowing his progress and preventing him from finishing on the podium on the last three occasions.

However, just one retirement and a worst finish place of sixth has him in good stead to eclipse his best season performance, sixth, achieved in 2011.

“After three weeks off the bike and concentrating my energy on recovering as much as possible from the shoulder injury, I feel ready to take up the championship fight in the final five rounds,” said Guintoli.

“This is the final straight line to the end of the season and I am excited to see how much progress the shoulder has made. The answer will be Sunday.”

Sykes has a 13-point deficit to overcome if he is to leave Germany with the points lead once more.

The British rider suffered a lean run of results at his home circuit last month, with seventh and 11th places seeing him lose crucial ground to Guintoli.

However, he remains positive he can return to the podium at the Nurburgring, the site of his first World Superbike race win in 2012.

“I am really excited about racing again this coming weekend in Germany,” said Sykes. “I spoke to my crew chief Marcel Duinker last night and a three-week break has been good for us.

“I have enjoyed my time at home and with the busy month we have coming up in September I have been doing some good training in readiness for three races in quick succession.

“I am ready go, I feel fit and I am fully recharged. I like the circuit in Germany and the Ninja ZX-10R has been strong there in the past so I am looking forward to this weekend.”

The second factory Aprilia of Eugene Laverty is also in the mix, although hamstrung by two retirements from the past four races.

He heads the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK pairing of Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies, with Silverstone race winner Loris Baz also in the hunt for a top-five finish.

Entry lists indicate that Team Pedercini has re-enlisted the services of Mark Aitchison as a replacement for the injured Alexander Lundh.

Aussie fans will be backing Mitchell Carr, Matt Davies and Jed Metcher in the Supersport class, along with Adrian Nestorovic in Superstock 600 and Zac Levy in the European Junior Cup.