The grand finale of the International German Motorcycle Championship (IDM) at Hockenheim produced the usual picture in the Supersport following qualifying. Andreas Kofler (Yamalube Motorsport Kofler) secured pole position by a considerable margin.
The defending champion from Austria hasn’t been on his race bike since the races at the Nürburgring; instead, he spent just one day at the Pannoniaring on his practice bike. “I was helping out my IDM mechanic—she’s just starting out as a rider,” Kofler says with a laugh. “I was basically riding in the toddler class.”
The fact that Lennox Lehmann (Apreco Ten Kate Yamaha Racing) will start the race in second place on his YZF-R6 is a real coup. The Dresden native has had a season of ups and downs, including a change in crew chief. Lehmann has never been this far up the grid this year.
His friend and future teammate at Apreco, Dirk Geiger (MCA Racing), secured third place on the front row. That’s not quite what he had in mind, “but we’ll make it work.” Before the Mannheim native switches to Yamaha after the final, he wants to win the title for Honda. To do that, the points gap still needs to be closed. Kofler leads the overall standings by 15 points ahead of the German. And he’s a seasoned veteran.
The first three rows feature five Yamahas, including the bikes ridden by guest riders Thomas Gradinger and Damien Raemy (Eder Racing). Honda and Ducati each have two bikes on the grid. Luca Göttlicher (Kawasaki Weber Racing Team) is riding the only Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R in the field.
Marvin Siebdrath (Yamalube Motorsport Kolfler), Till Belczykowski (LJ Racing), Dylan Czarkoswkski (Team SWPN), Luca de Vleeschauwer (Track and Trades Wixx Racing), and Filip Feigl (Genius Racing by MotoLife) crashed in Q1. With the exception of Feigl, the crashes were minor. The Czech rider broke his wrist.
Marvin Kreimes (BikeWare Kreimes Racing) and Andy Kofler went down in the second race, though Kofler went on to achieve a personal highlight by securing pole position with a lead of 0.649 seconds. The Austrian is unstoppable. Whether that remains the case will be seen at 4:45 p.m. today when the first Supersport of the weekend takes place. Free live stream at www.idm.de/live
IDM Supersport Qualifying:
1. Andreas KOFLER (AUT), Yamaha
2. Lennox LEHMANN (GER), Yamaha
3. Dirk GEIGER (GER), Honda
4. Daniel BLIN (POL), Ducati
5. Thomas GRADINGER (AUT), Yamaha
6. Luca GÖTTLICHER (GER), Kawasaki
7. Luca DE VLEESCHAUWER (BEL), Ducati
8. Štěpán ZUDA (CZE), Yamaha
9. Ruben BIJMAN (NLD), Honda
10.Damien RAEMY (CHE), Yamaha
11.Julius Caesar RÖRIG (DEU), Honda
12. Marvin SIEBDRATH (GER), Yamaha
13. Marcel BRENNER (SUI), Ducati
14. Dylan CZARKOWSKI (NLD), Yamaha
15. Till Benedikt BELCZYKOWSKI (GER), MV Agusta