Melvin van der Voort (Team SWPN) was the fastest rider in the IDM Supersport qualifying session Supersport the Schleizer Dreieck, and he will start from pole position tomorrow. Nevertheless, he has some ground to make up.
Melvin van der Voort’s crashes at Oschersleben have not yet been overcome. The title favorite still trails championship leader Twan Smits (Team Apreco)—who has held the lead ever since—by 31 points; Smits finished 0.249 seconds behind van der Voort in qualifying and took second place in practice. The battle between the two Dutch drivers is a hot topic.
Thomas Gradinger (Eder Racing) secured third place on the grid and gained confidence—which is the best thing that could happen ahead of his wildcard start next week at the Supersport in Most. Andreas Kofler (M32 Racing) will lead the second row. The Austrian admits: “Schleiz isn’t one of my favorite tracks, but fourth place is fine. It’s getting better lap by lap. The fact that Melvin is leading the field is nothing new. Tomorrow’s race will be tough, but doable. For me, finishing on the podium isn’t a must at Schleiz. I want to score points and finish the race in one piece.”
With the exception of Jonas Kocourek (MotoLife Racing) and Luca de Vleeschauwer (Kawasaki Weber Motos Racing), everyone in the top ten rides a Yamaha. The two of them are shaking things up in the field.
Yves Stadelmann (Yamaha bLU cRU IDM by Kiefer Racing) is starting from an unusually low position on the grid. “Nothing’s quite right. The Schleizer Dreieck isn’t my kind of track, and we’ve also got a lot of work to do on the Yamaha. In qualifying, we changed the geometry and raised the front end. We’ll lower everything back down again before the race.”
IDM Supersport Qualifying
1. Melvin VAN DER VOORT (NLD), Yamaha
2. Twan SMITS (NLD), Yamaha
3. Thomas GRADINGER (AUT), Yamaha
4. Andreas KOFLER (AUT), Yamaha
5. Martin VUGRINEC (CRO), Yamaha
6. Jonas KOCOUREK (CZE), Triumph
7. Leon ORGIS (DEU), Yamaha
8. Luca DE VLEESCHAUWER (BEL), Kawasaki
9. Christoph BEINLICH (DEU), Yamaha
10. Milan MERCKELBAGH (NLD), Yamaha