World Championship rider Thomas Gradinger knew that Patrick Hobelsberger would be incredibly fast on the Most circuit. The Austrian had been here testing with his buddy beforehand, and now the Bavarian lived up to his reputation in qualifying. He’ll start the IDM Supersport 600 races from pole position. The first race will take place this Saturday. The race starts at 4:05 p.m. – also available via livestream at www.idm.de and directly on the MOTORRAD YouTube channel.
If the track stays dry, nothing should stand in the way of Patrick Hobelsberger’s first win of the season. “Pax” isn’t just able to clock 1:36-minute lap times right off the bat during practice; he delivers that performance lap after lap. Aside from the Bavarian, only Martin Vugrinec managed to get into the 1:36 range. The Croatian was pretty nervous. He hadn’t gotten very far in the first qualifying session. After pulling out of the pits, the brakes on his Yamaha locked up during the first deceleration. The result: a crash. Vugrinec was uninjured, and the damage to the Yamaha was minor but very expensive.
Thomas Gradinger, the Supersport World Championship returnee from Austria, rounds out the front row. Pole position would have been nice for him, “but I’ve hardly raced at all for two years and need to get back into the swing of things to put in a fast lap.” Gradinger wants to return to the World Championship; the 24-year-old has even secured a pole position at Aragón. There’s still room for improvement. But for now, nothing is likely to change. Gradinger secretly hopes to stay in shape with a few more IDM races.
Marc Buchner will not be on the starting grid. The mvr team has already left, with their large trailer heading down the highway toward the Netherlands. Buchner has been suffering from severe neck pain since yesterday; he tried to get through the first qualifying session today, but after that, they packed up and left.
1. Patrick HOBELSBERGER (GER/Yamaha)
2. Martin VUGRINEC (CRO/Yamaha)
3. Thomas GRADINGER (AUT/Yamaha)
4. Max ENDERLEIN (GER/Yamaha)
5. Marcel BRENNER (SUI/Yamaha)
6. Glenn VAN STRAALEN (NLD/Kawasaki)
7. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (GER/Yamaha)
8. Rob HARTOG (NLD/Kawasaki)
9. Valentin DEBISE (FRA/Kawasaki)
10. Andreas KOFLER (AUT/Kawasaki)