Florian Alt (Honda), Hannes Soomer (Honda), Ilya Mikhalchik (BMW), Patrick Hobelsberger (BMW), Bastien Mackels (Yamaha), Vladimir Leonov (Yamaha)—these were the fastest riders in the IDM Superbike class during today’s first qualifying session at the Sachsenring. One top rider was missing: Leandro “Tati” Mercado. The Argentine has already left Germany’s motorcycle mecca.
The former World Championship rider broke the metacarpal bone in his left hand yesterday during a crash in free practice. Mercado’s hand is now in a cast. He’s flying back from Berlin to Italy today, where he currently resides. The only Kawasaki rider among the IDM Superbike competitors has already scheduled surgery for Monday.
“Tati had a front-end slide,” says Kawasaki team manager Emil Weber. “He tried to recover control of the bike, but ended up crashing. Unfortunately, the season has gotten off to a less-than-ideal start for us. We’re really having a rough time. At least we know our package is solid. Tati didn’t get many laps out on the track, but the lap times he posted were good. We hope he’ll be back on the grid at Oschersleben, but we won’t know for sure until after the surgery.”