HRP team boss Jens Holzhauer has invested three years in the Czech rider Jan Halbich . He’s put his faith in the now 24-year-old, hoping to develop him into a champion on a Honda and reap the rewards of their work together—just as it had worked out in 2007 and 2008 with Martin Bauer and in 2010 with Karl Muggeridge. The plan was for three years. It hasn’t gone very far. Halbich has stagnated. While he managed a fifth-place finish in the IDM Superbike overall standings in 2015, he finished sixth in both 2016 and 2017. Nevertheless, the team started its fourth year together in 2018. Holzhauer still saw great talent in his rider and supported him in every way possible. “I taught him everything, but that final push never came,” Holzhauer sums up.
Halbich apparently only performs well when he sees his lead slipping away. You can see it clearly. In the first race at Schleiz, the CBR 1000 RR rider crossed the finish line 40 seconds behind the winner. His fastest lap was 1:27.103 minutes. In the second race, the Prague native was only 26 seconds off the lead and clocked a time of 1:26.235 minutes, “even though we hadn’t made any changes to the bike in the meantime,” as Holzhauer insists. But the constant ups and downs also came to an end in Schleiz. Halbich is out at HRP.
Jens Holzhauer and his HRP team will compete with Alessandro Polita for the remainder of the season. The 34-year-old Italian won the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup in 2006. He has four years of experience in the Superbike World Championship, made his debut at the Isle of Man TT, and is currently competing in the World Endurance Championship.
Polita is like a balm for Holzhauer’s soul. The two hit it off right away and were already in Assen yesterday for testing. Track conditions were poor, and the marks left by Europe’s largest truck festival the week before hadn’t yet been cleared away. Polita, a die-hard BMW rider, quickly found his riding position on the Honda and completed 35 laps. His verdict: “I feel absolutely at home on the bike.” And Holzhauer says: “It’s still too early to say much, but Alessandro brakes into the corners and accelerates like Martin Bauer and Karl Muggeridge. It was really fun.”
There won't be another test before the IDM races at the Lausitzring at the end of the month, but we've made a start.