Florian Alt’s lead in the IDM Superbike championship is already 27 points over his closest rivals. Still, the championship leader can’t afford to rest on his laurels; instead, he has to work hard. That’s because when the IDM makes a stop at the Red Bull Ring in August, Alt will be absent from Spielberg and will instead compete in the FIM Endurance World Championship at Suzuka.
In theory, Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) could sit back and relax. Even if he were to finish last in an IDM race, he wouldn’t lose the championship lead at this point. But Alt is doing exactly the opposite. He’s going all out, because he’ll be missing the IDM round in Spielberg in August due to a scheduling conflict with the World Endurance Championship. That takes priority in Alt’s schedule, but then the competition at the Red Bull Ring will at least have a tough time chipping away at his IDM points total. This applies above all to Hannes Soomer (Enemat Enos Motorsport), the rising star from the Supersport, who clearly feels at home on the podium and is already second in the IDM standings. The Estonian, who also rides a Honda, is not affected by the scheduling conflict like Alt or Ilya Mikhalchik (BCC ALPHA VAN ZON BMW RACING TEAM).
The fact that both title favorites are missing this round could be Soomer’s big chance to rack up enough championship points in Austria that he might even secure the title by the end of the year. After the first two IDM rounds at the Sachsenring and in Oschersleben, the 25-year-old has undoubtedly joined the ranks of the title contenders.
After four runner-up finishes, Alt is finally determined to become champion. And according to team manager Jens Holzhauer, there is still a lot of potential in Alt’s Honda CBR 1000 RR-R. “There are still a few areas that haven’t been fully explored yet. For example, we haven’t been working as intensively on traction and wheelie control—we simply don’t have enough time.” Furthermore, the various fork and shock absorber settings haven’t been fully tested yet. “Between the races at the Sachsenring and Oschersleben, we made balance adjustments. At the Sachsenring, the focus was more on steering due to the track layout, while at Oschersleben it was more on acceleration. If we were to fully explore the bike’s potential, we’d need to spend ten days alone on a racetrack testing. But we won’t be able to do that this year.”