Ducati newcomer Lukas Tulovic (Triple M Racing Ducati Frankfurt) showed his stuff for the first time. With a best lap time of 1:24.723, he gave a preview in pre-practice of what to expect at the first IDM event of the year at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) and Leandro Mercado (Motoroil Alpha Van Zon BMW) also stayed under the 1:25 mark.
The Ducatis will feature official Magneti Marelli stock electronics in the Panigale V4R in 2025. Lukas Tulovic was already leading the IDM Superbike field during the first ten minutes of the pre-practice session. “That’s why we brought him in,” said team boss Matthias Moser, visibly pleased. The fact that “Tulo” ran out of gas on the final lap was a minor hiccup. Lorenzo Zanetti, who finished seventh overall last year, was ranked P7 today—much to Moser’s satisfaction. “He’s significantly faster than last year. Back then, he barely made it into SP2 at the last minute. His strengths lie more in the races than in qualifying.” Ducati wants the title—they make no secret of it.
“What the Ducatis have on board is absolutely amazing,” says Florian Alt, who turned 29 a week and a half ago. The only Honda rider in the field clocked a time of 1:24.779. “We’re still lacking a bit of rear-wheel grip. Sure, securing pole position in SP2 tomorrow would be great. But the main thing is that we win both races and score 50 points.”
Florian Alt: “Tati is a racing pig”
Argentine Leandro “Tati” Mercado, who has moved from Kawasaki to Werner Damen’s BMW championship-winning team, seems to have hit the jackpot. He now forms the spearhead of the official BMW factory team alongside Estonian Hannes Soomer, a team that has won six titles over the past eight years. For Mercado, everything related to BMW is completely new territory, but the competition doesn’t seem to notice. His time: 1:24.861 min. “I see Tati ahead of Hannes Soomer. Tati is a racing beast,” says Alt, who finished as runner-up last year and was previously champion in Germany’s top motorcycle racing class.
Tomorrow, Saturday, the battle for the starting positions will really heat up. As a reminder: Today, during a half-hour “Superpole Pre-Practice” session, the twelve fastest riders qualified for Superpole 2, where the top starting positions will be decided.
So they won’t be there tomorrow when all the other riders compete in Superpole 1 for their starting positions. The top three from Superpole 1 will advance to Superpole 2, thereby maintaining their chances of securing one of the front positions. Superpole 2 will determine starting positions 1 through 15. The remaining starting positions will be determined in order based on the Superpole 1 results. These starting positions will apply to both races.
Pre-Practice Results: Lukas TULOVIC (Ducati), Florian ALT (Honda), Leandro MERCADO (BMW), Toni FINSTERBUSCH (BMW), Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (BMW), Hannes SOOMER (BMW), Lorenzo ZANETTI (Ducati), Jan MOHR (Yamaha), Kevin ORGIS (BMW), Maximilian KOFLER (Yamaha), Ricardo BRINK (BMW), Milan MERCKELBAGH (BMW).
