IDM SSP 300: Svendsen Wins with Urgency

Oliver Svendsen wins the first IDM Supersport race at the Schleizer Dreieck after a thrilling three-way battle. His teammates Ruben Bijmann and Philipp Tonn round out the podium.

After the morning qualifying sessions, Oliver Svendsen (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing) started the race from second position and got off to a perfect start. The Dane took the lead as early as the first corner, while pole-sitter Dylan Czarkowski (DCD Racing) dropped back to third place. Within a single lap, all four riders from the KTM-Freudenberg team had managed to move up and form the leading group. Only Fabio Sarrasino (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing) fell back due to a riding error, allowing Dylan Czarkowski to move back up to fourth place.

From that point on, a three-way battle among KTM riders developed at the front between Oliver Svendsen, Ruben Bijman (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing), and Philipp Tonn. Despite constant attacks and passing maneuvers among the three rivals, the gap to Czarkowski and the rest of the field kept growing.

In the final lap, the showdown everyone had been hoping for finally took place. Ruben Bijman launched an attack against Svendsen, who had been leading for most of the race, and tried to pass the Dane with a blocking move in the final turn. But Svendsen kept his cool and stayed in control. He immediately launched a counterattack and also benefited from a better line, allowing him to enter the home stretch with more speed. In the end, he managed to scrape across the finish line ahead of Ruben Bijman by a razor-thin margin of 0.065 seconds. “That was a close final lap,” Svendsen said, adding, “But I led for most of the race and had it under control.”

After the awards ceremony, however, he got nervous, and people saw him shuffling back and forth in the parc fermé. What was going on? “To be honest, I really need to use the restroom,” he revealed with a smile. He had already noticed the “problem” on the grid before the start. But he didn’t have time to go. So he not only kept control of the race, but fortunately also of his bladder.

Ruben Bijman also had to hold his breath to secure his second-place finish. After passing Svendsen, the Dutchman found his teammate Philipp Tonn hot on his heels. Just as narrow as Svendsen’s lead was, so too was his margin over Tonn at the finish—0.068 seconds. Last year’s winner of the first race in Schleiz had to settle for third place. “I had really good pace and would have needed just three more meters to pass Ruben,” Philipp Tonn said afterward.

Dylan Czarkowski, on the other hand, had a rather solitary race. Although he was no match for the leading group, he was also able to break away from the rest of the field. He finished the race in fourth place.

Behind them, Fabio Sarrasino, Senna van den Hoven (Molenaar Racing), Korbinian Brandl (RBR Racing), Niklas Böhlen (Blau Power Bikes), and Emil Tägtlund (Tägtlund Motosport) crossed the finish line in that order.

The second race will take place on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Viewers can follow the action via the free IDM stream at www.idm.de/live.

IDM Supersport Results, Race 1