At the Öhlins IDM race at the Nürburgring, Lukas Tulovic picks up right where he left off: pole position for the Ducati rider. Joining him on the front row are Hannes Soomer and Jan-Ole Jähnig. Where is Florian Alt on the Honda? In P9, hoping to limit the damage in Sunday’s two races.
It came as no surprise that Lukas Tulovic (Triple M Racing Ducati Frankfurt) set the fastest lap in Superpole 2 after just four minutes, securing pole position in the IDM Superbike class. We’ve gotten used to it. However, the gap to his closest rival, Hannes Soomer (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW), was a generous 0.131 seconds. Team boss Werner Daemen rules out the possibility that the Estonian could still challenge the German for the title. “That’s a done deal, and it’s going to be tough even for Florian Alt,” the Belgian remarked.
Tomorrow, Jan-Ole Jähnig’s turquoise-and-black BMW bearing the number “14” (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes) will start from third place on the front row. The gaps between the riders were razor-thin, and a bit of luck was also needed to secure a clear path to the front.
For a long time, Leandro “Tati” Mercado (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW) had also been in contention for a spot on the front row. Since Most, the team had been fine-tuning the suspension of the BMW M 1000 RR. “Tati has gotten more and more used to the bike since then,” says Werner Daemen, who managed to place three of his team riders in the first two rows of the grid, as Bálint Kovács is also part of his squad.
Behind Tulovic, a formidable BMW contingent has gathered, broken up only by Twan Smits in sixth place on the Apreco Yamaha. It seemed strange to the leading Ducati team that the Panigale V4R had previously been ordered by the technical commissioners to be weighed completely out of the blue, along with other motorcycles, in the middle of the third free practice session. It wasn’t the first time the Ducati crew had been confronted from the outside with technical allegations that, to date, had not corresponded to reality and had been refuted. The Panigale V4R weighed in at 180 kilograms during technical inspection, which is actually five kilograms more than the required minimum weight. Due to its Superbike homologation, the Ducati is set at exactly 175 kilograms.
Tulo’s teammate Lorenzo Zanetti edged out Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) for eighth place in Superpole 2. However, both will start from the third row. Alt and the HRP team are going through hell at the Öhlins IDM race at the Nürburgring. Little grip on the Honda Fireblade, third row on the grid, fast lap times like last year, but not fast enough. The 29-year-old isn’t talking about the title anymore. But the only Honda rider in the field says: “We’ll give it our all until the end of the season. And if someone makes a mistake, we’ll be there. That’s our chance.” Except for the season opener in Oschersleben, Alt has been on the podium at every race, finishing on top twice.
Max Schmidt (BCC Racing), Jan Mohr (Team SWPN), and Marco Fetz (MF-Racing powered by Jung) had qualified for Superpole 2 via Superpole 1. Schmidt’s team manager, Andreas Gerlich, had to build a new BMW for the Wuppertal native. Schmidt had severely damaged his race bike in a crash at Assen. Schmidt had completed the private practice session at the Nürburgring on Thursday on his father’s Suzuki to familiarize himself with the track.
Superpole 1: Jan MOHR (Yamaha), Max SCHMIDT (BMW), Marco FETZ (BMW), Maximilian KOFLER (Yamaha), Milan MERCKELBAGH (BMW), Isaac VINALES MARES (Kawasaki), Christoph BEINLICH (BMW), Sandro WAGNER (BMW)
Superpole 2: Lukas TULOVIC (Ducati), Hannes SOOMER (BMW), Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (BMW), Bálint KOVÁCS (BMW), Leandro MERCADO (BMW), Twan SMITS (Yamaha), Toni FINSTERBUSCH (BMW), Lorenzo ZANETTI (Ducati), Florian ALT (Honda), Soma GÖRBE (BMW), Leon ORGIS (BMW), Max SCHMIDT (BMW), Jan MOHR (Yamaha), Kevin ORGIS (BMW), Marco FETZ (BMW)