It’s done. Marcel Schrötter has secured the first victory in the new EURO MOTO Superbike series for the BMW Team GERT56 by RS Speedbikes. And wherever team boss Karsten Wolf—who passed away in January—may be now, he’ll be celebrating having pulled off another stroke of luck by signing the former Supersport and Moto2 World Championship rider. Behind them, Honda rider Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) edged out four-time champion Markus Reiterberger (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW) for second place in the final meters.
After qualifying, it was clear that tires would play a key role in the race. Reiterberger looked to his right and left and said on the starting grid before the first race at the Brno Automotodrom: “I chose the same ones as most of the other drivers, and I hope that was the right call.”
Marcel Schrötter was actually a little nervous. Although he was the only one to clock a 1:56 in the Superpole and thus secured pole position, tires had never been a major concern for him throughout his career.
What really fired everyone up: What was Lukas Tulovic (Triple M Ducati Racing Frankfurt) up to, having started from only tenth on the grid? In Friday’s Superbike Pre-Pole, the defending champion and double winner of the season opener had been thrown off his game by a slip; in Saturday’s Superpole, it was a brief rain shower. And as team boss Matthias Moser noted: “Problems with the front end.” Tulo was visibly frustrated. However, Moser’s hope that he would still make his way up from P10 did not come to fruition. While he unleashed the Ducati’s extreme power on the straights, Tulo couldn’t keep up otherwise. It was the complete opposite of the season opener at the Sachsenring. There, the Ducati rider had dominated the field. Now, at times, he was even nearly a second slower than teammate Lorenzo Zanetti and, after 13 laps at the Brno Automotodrom, finished behind the Italian as well.
Markus Reiterberger, who had led for most of the race, and Marcel Schrötter seemed intent on deciding the victory between themselves. For podium contender Twan Smits, the only Yamaha rider in the field, things had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. Florian Alt, on his Honda Fireblade, had fought his way up to third place after a mediocre start. That he would go on to finish second behind the eventual winner, Marcel Schrötter, was almost unbelievable. But Reiti went too far twice. The first time, it had no consequences; the second time, Schrötter was there to take the lead. When Schrötter popped the winner’s champagne on the podium, it was a very special moment.
Reiterberger had been riding as if on eggshells for the last two laps. “I was trying to conserve the rear tire, but I didn’t expect the front to lose traction like that,” he said, shaking his head. Just as bad: “Then I shifted into the wrong gear and ended up in neutral.” That cleared the way for Florian Alt to move into second place. The Gummersbach native once again threw a major wrench in the plans of the concentrated BMW armada at the front, after the season opener had been a real struggle for the Honda team.
What else happened: Leon Orgis (ORM Racing), who had started the race from P4, tried to push too hard too soon and crashed out of the race on the third lap while in P6. Milan Merckelbagh (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW) received a double long-lap penalty for a false start. Marco Fetz (MF-Racing powered by Jung) pulled his BMW into the pits after six laps.
EURO MOTO Superbike, Race 1
1. Marcel SCHRÖTTER (GER/BMW)
2. Florian ALT (GER/Honda)
3. Markus REITERBERGER (GER/BMW)
4. Kevin ORGIS (GER/BMW)
5. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER/BMW)
6. Lorenzo ZANETTI (ITA/Ducati)
7. Lukas TULOVIC (GER/Ducati)
8. Twan SMITS (NED/Yamaha)
9. Soma GÖRBE (HUN/BMW)
10.Jan MOHR (AUT/BMW)
11. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (GER/BMW)
12. Patrick HOBELSBERGER (GER/Honda)
13. Christoph BEINLICH (GER/BMW)
14. Milan MERCKELBAGH (NLD/BMW)
