Florian Alt will start from pole position in the first race of the IDM Superbike series at the Hockenheimring tomorrow, Sunday. Joining him on the front row are Markus Reiterberger, who has already secured the championship title in the premier class, and guest rider Dominik Vincon. The second row of the grid is occupied by Rob Hartog (Team SWPN), Pepijn Bijsterbosch (BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW), and Luca Grünwald (HRP Honda). Hartog managed to improve his time by four-tenths of a second in the second practice session.
Hockenheim is Florian Alt’s last chance to make his dream a reality. He wants to beat Markus Reiterberger one more time this year. During qualifying, the 26-year-old from the Wilbers BMW team tested out various tires. For the first race, he has chosen the SC1, Pirelli’s racing tire designed for low temperatures and coarse-grained asphalt. Autumn has also arrived at the Hockenheimring. Alt left his longtime rival Markus Reiterberger (BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW) 0.186 seconds behind him in qualifying. The Bavarian hadn’t felt quite at home on the track yet due to a lack of grip, but that doesn’t mean anything yet. Only one thing is clear: the victory will be decided between the BMW drivers just mentioned.
It was a surprise, however, to see Dominik Vincon so high up in the timesheets. Although the guest rider, who had stepped in for Team GERT56 virtually overnight, had a slip-up in the first qualifying session, the team’s mechanics also went all out. The M 1000 RR was back in top form for the second qualifying session. Vincon had also had the rear shock adjusted slightly. “That wasn’t so good,” summed up the 31-year-old endurance racer, adding: “Overall, though, I’m completely satisfied, because I’ve never ridden a BMW M 1000 RR before. It feels like I’m sitting on a bicycle with rocket propulsion.” Vincon emphasized how happy he was that GERT56 team boss Karsten Wolf asked him if he could step in at the Hockenheimring. “I couldn’t gauge where I’d rank among the field of riders. Now I know where I stand. But I’m even happier to be back at the IDM and to meet so many familiar faces.”
IDM Superbike, Qualifying:
1. Florian ALT (GER), BMW
2. Markus REITERBERGER (GER), BMW
3. Dominik VINCON (GER), BMW
4. Rob HARTOG (NED), Yamaha
5. Pepijn BIJSTERBOSCH (NED), BMW
6. Luca GRÜNWALD (GER), Honda
7. Bastien MACKELS (BEL), Kawasaki
8. Gabriel NODERER (GER), BMW
9. Kamil KRZEMIEN (POL), BMW
10. Daniel KARTHEININGER (GER), Yamaha