Es scheint, als ob Melvin van der Voort dort weitermacht, wo er im letzten Jahr aufgehört hat. Der 17-jährige Niederländer vom Team SWPN holte sich im Qualifying der IDM Supersport auf dem Sachsenring die Pole Position.
The Yamaha rider, who hopes to move up to the World Championship next year, seems unstoppable. He improved his fastest lap time in the second qualifying session, as did his teammates Andreas Kofler and Twan Smits. All three will start from the front row in both races tomorrow, Sunday.
Kofler was beaming from ear to ear. The tension he’d felt after the first session had vanished. In that session, the 18-year-old had only managed three laps before having to pull over due to a technical issue. Although the lap time he’d set up to that point had been enough to qualify for the race, Kofler had been extremely dissatisfied with it. In the final qualifying session, he suddenly closed the gap to the front of the pack. Now, a mere 0.055 seconds separate him from pole-sitter van der Voort.
Thomas Gradinger once again provided plenty of excitement. The 26-year-old Yamaha rider from Austria, who races for the German team Eder Racing, remained completely unfazed by the fact that, having finished fourth in practice, he will start from the second row. It doesn’t bother him in the least: “There are no points for qualifying.” A minor, as yet unexplained issue affecting the Yamaha’s handling should be resolved by tomorrow morning before the races. However, Gradinger had been the victim of a rock strike while on the track. “There were three or four riders in front of me when suddenly there was a loud thud, and a rock that had been kicked up shot right through my windshield.”
Luca de Vleeschauwer aus Belgien wurde auf Kawasaki Trainings-Fünfter vor dem Triumph-Fahrer Michal Prasek aus Tschechien. Es ist die erste Saison, in der nach dem Konzept der Supersport Next Generation gefahren wird. Die neuen Regeln öffnen das Feld für zahlreiche neue Bikes, die nicht den traditionellen 600 cm³-Supersportlern entsprechen, sondern auch mehr Hubraum haben dürfen. Ausgefeilte Balance-Regeln sorgen dafür, dass die Leistungsunterschiede zwischen den einzelnen Motorrädern ausgeglichen werden. Die einzige Honda im Feld, die von Julius Caesar Rörig gelenkt wird, fährt morgen vom 10. Platz los.