It's done. Florian Alt claimed his first victory of the season in the first IDM Superbike race at the Schleizer Dreieck. The 29-year-old from Westphalia is the only Honda rider in Germany's top motorcycle class. He was joined on the podium by Lukas Tulovic and Leandro “Tati” Mercado.
The conditions for a “normal” Superbike race were as unfavorable as could be. The start-finish line was completely wet after a heavy downpour. Other sections were just starting to dry out. “If we wait another ten minutes, we’d all be riding on slicks,” said Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion). He is the 2023 champion and last year’s runner-up.
The weather along Germany’s oldest natural race track fluctuated between sunglasses weather and raincoat weather. Jan-Ole Jähnig (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes), who had secured pole position in qualifying, was torn. “Let’s not read too much into the pole position today. We’re facing completely new conditions.”
There were two warm-up laps, during which each rider kept an eye on the others to get their bearings. Among the top teams, Jan-Ole Jähnig, Florian Alt, Tati Mercado (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW), Lorenzo Zanetti, and Lukas Tulovic (Triple M Racing Ducati Frankfurt) switched from rain tires to slicks in the blink of an eye. Choosing the right tires was a risky decision for all the riders on the grid. The question was: How long would a rain tire last in dry conditions, and would the track even dry out? The weather could have gone either way.
The relationship was bound to fall apart at some point
After the first lap, opening-round winner Hannes Soomer (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW) returned to the track in the lead. Leon Orgis (ORM Racing Team), Toni Finsterbusch (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes), Bálint Kovács (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW), Kevin Orgis, Milan Merckelbagh (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW), Soma Görbe, and Martin Vugrinec (Skach Motors Kawasaki Racing) followed in tight formation. Florian Alt and his slick-tire teammates didn’t appear until P16. Alt was the fastest of the group, but the gap to the group on rain tires grew rapidly and soon exceeded half a minute. But the track continued to dry out, and eventually the tide turned. Starting on the ninth lap, Alt and Tulovic literally flew through the field. By the ninth lap, Alt had already moved up to P6 and Tulo to P9. And they kept up that pace.
Starting in Lap 15, Alt held a commanding lead. Tulo was in second place, and Soomer, the winner of the opening race, was in third. But the feisty Estonian was ultimately overtaken by his teammate Tati Mercado. Leandro Zanetti had crashed into the grass.
After 17 laps, Florian Alt had pulled off a brilliant performance in his second “home” race. Neither Ducati nor the entire BMW fleet had been able to slow down the Honda rider. As the husband of a local woman, he won—armed with newfound confidence—by a margin of 6.117 seconds. “I knew there would come a point where we’d have the advantage on slicks. My team showed me on the pit wall during the tenth lap that I was 34 seconds behind. I knew I could go ten seconds faster when the time came,” the blond giant in the red leather suit summed up at the award ceremony, and he became quite emotional when he said: “I dedicate this victory to Schleiz and my beautiful dream woman, Kimberly. I’m glad I married you.”
Tulo wasn't quite as pleased, but had to settle for second place. Mercado, on the other hand, was beaming. The new BMW rider from Argentina made it onto the podium in just his second race. Team boss Werner Daemen was pleased that Tati had done everything right amid the tire chaos. The trophies for the Superbike class were presented at the Schleizer Dreieck by Bodo Ramelow, Vice President of the German Bundestag. He had previously served for many years as Minister President of the Free State of Thuringia.
IDM Superbike Race 1 Results:
1. Florian ALT (GER), Honda
2. Lukas TULOVIC (GER), Ducati
3. Leandro MERCADO (ARG), BMW
4. Hannes SOOMER (EST), BMW
5. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER), BMW
6. Milan MERCKELBAGH (NED), BMW
7. Bálint KOVÁCS (HUN), BMW
8. Kevin ORGIS (GER), BMW
9. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (GER), BMW
10. Soma GÖRBE (HUN), BMW
11. Leon ORGIS (GER), BMW
12. Twan SMITS (NLD), Yamaha
13. Jan MOHR (AUT), Yamaha
14. Martin VUGRINEC (CRO), Kawasaki
15. Marco FETZ (DEU), BMW
