The Superbike starting grid positions have been determined. In the IDM’s top class—which is making a guest appearance as the highlight of the Endurance World Championship during German Speedweek— Ilya Mikhalchik, Lorenzo Lanzi, and Bastien Mackels will start from the front row tomorrow. This means the fast trio, who had already battled it out in free practice, will now also be at the very front of the grid.
The outcome was already decided during the first qualifying session at noon today. Ilya Mikhalchik’s S1000 RR, bearing start number #50, posted the fastest time. The Ukrainian rider from alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW edged out Belgian Bastien Mackels (Wilbers-BMW) for first place in the final laps. Mikhalchik completed a lap in 1:25.241, while Mackels clocked his fastest lap at 1:25.402. There wasn’t much of a gap to the riders behind either. Lorenzo Lanzi followed with a time of 1:25.817 on the MGM-Yamaha. Improving on those times just one hour later in the second qualifying session was out of the question. The sun was beating down mercilessly.
Toni Finsterbusch of Suzuki Mayer will be the fastest GSX-R 1000 rider on the grid tomorrow. The Saxon qualified for fifth place on the grid. His goal is to be the top Suzuki rider. He’s locked in an internal battle with Dominic Schmitter ( HPC Power Suzuki), who will start sixth alongside him. At the season opener, the situation was reversed. Finsterbusch finished behind Schmitter in qualifying but performed better in the race. This could be a heated battle.
Kawasaki’s star rider, Mathieu Gines, is seventh on the grid and leads off the third row. Jan Halbich ( Honda Holzhauer Racing Promotion) lines up next to him. Nineteen-year-old Bobby Bos ( Yamaha) qualified ninth after already showing what he’s capable of in free practice. And where did Lucy Glöckner ( Kawasaki Schnock Team Motorex) end up? The fastest woman in the field qualified twelfth.
Not all the riders who took to the track for qualifying managed to stay in the saddle. Fast, faster, crash. That’s how it went for Yamaha MGM in the second qualifying session. Both Lorenzo Lanzi and Bobby Bos went down, but neither was injured, and their bikes are repairable. “They wanted to see if they could push it even further and tried a different front tire,” explains team manager Michael Galinski.
Ricardo Brink wasn’t so lucky. The rider from Niederlänge landed awkwardly on his shoulder. It’s not yet known whether he’ll be at the starting line tomorrow.
Bastien Mackels (Wilbers-BMW) and Jan Halbich (Honda Holzhauer Racing Promotion) had already set out on the second race bike. Mackels had totaled his bike in the first qualifying session. On Halbich’s Honda, the fork snapped clean through upon impact. Kawasaki prospect Mathieu Gines, who was making his debut this year with the Weber Motos Racing team, also crashed. The Frenchman is okay, but the front end of his ZX-10R was so badly mangled that it had stretched to over 20 centimeters in length. Gines decided to sit out the second qualifying session. It was also pretty clear that the lap times wouldn’t change anymore. He’ll be back in action tomorrow morning during the warm-up at 9:00 a.m.