Typical Eifel weather with heavy rain caused quite a stir during the first qualifying session of the IDM Superbike 1000 at the Nürburgring. Three Suzukis set the fastest times. Daniel Kartheininger (HPC-Power Suzuki Racing) secured provisional pole position with a time of 1:45.451 min.
The best Yamaha (Ricardo Brink, SWPN) was recorded in fourth place, followed by the fastest Honda (Alessandro Polita, Holzhauer Racing Promotion). There were no BMWs in the top six. That’s where Dutch rider Pepijn Bijsterbosch appeared on his S 1000 RR. Neither Ilya Mikhalchik nor Julian Puffe (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW) made an impression on the slippery track. Puffe crashed on his first flying lap. Defending champion Mikhalchik held back during the time trial.
In the afternoon, all the times were put into perspective. The sun was shining, bringing completely new results to light. Mikhalchik was the first to set a 1:25 lap time. Nothing seemed capable of keeping the Ukrainian from pole position. But on the final lap of the second qualifying session, Puffe struck, setting the day’s fastest time and whittling Mikhalchik’s lead down to a 0.044-second deficit. How will this affect tomorrow’s race? The situation is explosive. Mikhalchik arrived at the Nürburgring with a slim lead of just one point over Puffe, who was the fastest in practice, in the IDM Superbike overall standings. Can the 23-year-old from Schleiz turn the tables in the Eifel? Erwan Nigon, the rider for Weber-Motos-Kawasaki, will certainly have a say in the matter. The Frenchman is currently racing in an airbag-equipped leather suit, as required in the World Endurance Championship. Nigon is also registered as a rider there and has a real chance of even becoming World Endurance Champion this year with his French team.
Alex Polita will lead off the second row of the grid for Saturday’s race. The Italian has never been this far up the grid this year. “We’ve tuned the suspension very well for him,” says team manager Jens Holzhauer. “If Ricardo Brink hadn’t crashed on a fast lap ahead of Alex, third place might even have been within reach. But oh well. These things happen. We still have one more suspension adjustment up our sleeve for the warm-up.” Next to Polita is Jan Bühn (BMW, EGS Moto Racing), who is competing for the first time this year following a hand injury sustained during test runs. Yamaha rider Marc Moser (MGM Racing Performance) rounds out the row. The third row also features riders from three different brands: Jan Mohr (BMW, BCC Racing), who finished seventh in qualifying, is followed by Daniel Kartheininger (HPC-Power Suzuki) and Ricardo Brink (Yamaha, SWPN).