Florian Alt’s (Wilbers-BMW-Racing) fastest lap time left some of his IDM Superbike 1000 rivals with long faces. He put a full 0.682 seconds between himself and the next-fastest rider, Markus Reiterberger (BCC Racing), during free practice at the Red Bull Ring. Alt’s best time was 1:27.814.
Reiti was followed by Belgian rider Bastien Mackels on the SWPN-Yamaha, ahead of his Russian teammate Vladimir Leonov Hertrampf (Hertrampf MO Yamaha Racing Team). Championship leader Ilya Mikhalchik (EGS-alpha-Van Zon-BMW) posted the fifth-fastest time.
Nico Thöni (Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing) brought the fastest ZX-10RR into the top ten on his home track, as did guest rider Jan Bühn on the HRP-Honda. It was the first sign of life from the IDM premier class on its return to Styria. Tomorrow’s qualifying session will determine who starts from which position in the first race.
For team manager Jens Holzhauer, Jan Bühn’s data logs are likely already proving very helpful. Regular rider Alessandro Polita could only manage 14th place in the results. Bühn had the seating position on the CBR 1000 RR-R adjusted, and everything seemed to be working fine for the time being.
The 30-year-old has been racing in the World Endurance Championship with the Bolliger team for two years; now he enjoyed the sprint distance and the IDM atmosphere. “The level of competition in the Superbike class has gotten even higher. Having 32 riders on the starting grid is quite something,” said the Kronau native.
With commitments to the last two IDM events, Bühn has some busy weekends ahead of him on his motorcycle. “From the Red Bull Ring, I’ll head straight to Le Castellet on Sunday for the pre-test ahead of the World Endurance Championship. The race takes place the weekend before the IDM finale at Hockenheim, and after that, I’ll be at Hockenheim, of course.”