Florian Alt started the first IDM Superbike race with a three-point lead in the overall standings. Lukas Tulovic had a plan to take the lead from him. To do so, his second-place finish after 15 laps on the 4.555-kilometer TT Circuit in Assen was more than enough. Winner Dominique Aegerter, however, was classified as a pace car driver and therefore did not count toward the standings. This meant that the Swiss rider received no points, and Tulo took home the full points haul. Alt crossed the finish line in fourth place.
Dominique Aegerter (Team SWPN), 12th in the Superbike World Championship and a die-hard Yamaha rider, made a spectacular comeback to the championship where he got his start 19 years ago. The 34-year-old Swiss rider from the canton of Bern competed in the IDM 125 class back then. The return came about because he was offered the chance to take over the bike of the injured Jan Mohr on the SWPN team. According to the team manager, Aegerter was set to show what the Yamaha is truly capable of. After a long dry spell, it turned out to be a revelation—not to mention that Aegerter, with his World Championship experience and successes, is a rider of a very special caliber.
Just before the race, it began to drizzle lightly. Guest rider Moritz Jenkner crashed in the final corner of the formation lap. His BMW was pulled from the race. Temperatures were also significantly cooler than during the practice sessions. Right after the start, Tulovic (Triple M Ducati Racing Frankfurt) on the Ducati Panigale V4R seemed well on his way to snatching the championship lead from his Honda rival Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion). The rider from Baden-Württemberg looked set to pull away. Let’s just say right now: it didn’t work out that way.
“Tati” Mercado (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW), who had started third on the front row, hit a wet patch on the track and spun off. This caused him to lose at least ten positions. The harder SC2 tire from Pirelli was likely the cause. Nearly all of his competitors had opted for the softer SCX tire.
After three laps, a group had formed at the front consisting of Lukas Tulovic, Domi Aegerter, Toni Finsterbusch (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes), Florian Alt, Bálint Kovács (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW), and Jan-Ole Jähnig (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes). There was already a noticeable gap to Milan Merckelbagh, Hannes Soomer, Maximilian Kofler, and Lorenzo Zanetti. Soomer was so far back because he had crashed in yesterday’s Superpole and hadn’t been able to set a better time. The Estonian had to start from P13.
For Tulo at the front, the race was a tricky affair. He could have easily let Aegerter, who was pushing hard from behind, pass him. The Swiss rider wasn’t going to score any points anyway. But that wouldn’t be Tulo. When a 25-year-old is aiming for the World Championship, only a visual victory on the track counts as a true victory.
On the fifth lap, Aegerter appeared on the inside of Tulo for the first time. The two know each other very well. In 2019, they raced against each other in the Moto2 European Championship. Both the Ducati rider and the Yamaha rider picked up the pace. Finsterbusch was left alone in third place.
The battle for fourth place was a real thriller, pitting Alt against Kovács—or vice versa. Of all people, it was the underdog from the Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW team who took on the 2023 Superbike champion. It went back and forth. Above all, Kovács’s attacks grew increasingly aggressive. They had long since left Finsterbusch behind. By now, it was all about who would make it onto the podium. Unbelievable: it was Kovács. In the “Geert Timmer corner,” the Hungarian rubbed salt into the title favorite’s wound. The BMW rider had defeated the Honda leader in the final meters and could hardly believe it himself.
Aegerter overtook Tulo on the tenth lap. It wasn’t entirely without the German’s help. “When Domi passed me, I shifted gears wrong in the ‘Strubben’ and ended up in neutral,” Tulo said, adding that he’s actually glad about it now, “because second place feels like a win today. The conditions were really tricky.”
Sunnyboy Dominique Aegerter finished with a 3.907-second lead and had achieved everything he could. “Winning here in Assen, for a Dutch team and on a Yamaha, is a real joy. And I’m going to give it my all in the second race, too.”
IDM Superbike, Race 1
1. Dominique AEGERTER (CHE), Yamaha
2. Lukas TULOVIC (GER), Ducati
3. Bálint KOVÁCS (HUN), BMW
4. Florian ALT (GER), Honda
5. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER), BMW
6. Leandro MERCADO (ARG), BMW
7. Hannes SOOMER (EST), BMW
8. Lorenzo ZANETTI (ITA), Ducati
9. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (GER), BMW
10.Twan SMITS (NED), Yamaha
11.Soma GÖRBE (HUN), BMW
12. Milan MERCKELBAGH (NLD), BMW
13. Max SCHMIDT (GER), BMW
14. Leon ORGIS (GER), BMW
15. Maximilian KOFLER (AUT), Yamaha