The debacle in Brno is history. Ducati is back on track—and in a big way. Lukas Tulovic set the fastest time in the Superpole Pre-Practice session. Despite the intense heat at the Autodrom Most, the session was a neck-and-neck race from start to finish. Twelve riders from the EURO MOTO Superbike class finished within one second of each other.
“He’ll do just fine—I’m confident of that,” said Matthias Moser, leaning back in his folding chair in the pit. The team manager of Triple M Racing Ducati Frankfurt knows exactly what he has in his rider. That trust was not betrayed. Tulovic completed a lap of the course on the Ducati Panigale V4R in 1:33.039 minutes, finishing a razor-thin 0.029 seconds ahead of Hannes Soomer (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW).
For Soomer, it marked a return to the EURO MOTO Superbike series. The Estonian had missed the most recent round in Brno because he was simultaneously standing in for the injured Danilo Petrucci on the BMW factory team in the Superbike World Championship. Soomer clearly enjoyed his stint on the World Championship stage and hopes to continue there. However, his participation set him back in the overall EURO MOTO standings after he had finished on the podium at the season opener at the Sachsenring. Soomer is now ranked ninth overall in the Superbike standings. He won’t want to leave it at that.
Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) posted the third-fastest time. Unlike last year, he’s having trouble with the standard tires. The Honda needs to be set up for them, and the asphalt temperatures aren’t making it easy right now.
Markus Reiterberger (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW), Toni Finsterbusch (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes), and Leon Orgis (ORM Racing) also qualified directly for Superpole 2. In the first free practice session, Orgis hadn’t managed to complete a single lap due to a faulty steering head bearing and had to watch the action on the track from the sidelines.
Marcel Schrötter (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes) had a completely off day. The former Supersport finished only in eleventh place—though he was still within one second of leader Tulovic. Tire problems and several minor issues prevented him from achieving a better result. As a result, Schrötter will first have to go through Superpole 1 tomorrow, Saturday. There, the three fastest riders will qualify for Superpole 2, where—together with the top six finishers from today’s Superpole Pre-Practice—the final starting positions in the first three rows for Sunday’s two races will be determined.
Superpole Pre-Practice
1. Lukas TULOVIC (Ducati/GER)
2. Hannes SOOMER (BMW/EST)
3. Florian ALT (Honda/GER),
4. Markus REITERBERGER (BMW/GER)
5. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (BMW/GER)
6. Leon ORGIS (BMW/GER)
7. Twan SMITS (Yamaha/NLD),
8. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (BMW/DEU)
9. Soma GÖRBE (BMW/HUN)
10.Kevin ORGIS (BMW/DEU)
11. Marcel SCHRÖTTER (BMW/GER),
12. Jan MOHR (BMW/AUT)
13. Lorenzo ZANETTI (Ducati/ITA)
14. Patrick HOBELSBERGER (Honda/GER)
15. Marco FETZ (BMW/GER)
16. Milan MERCKELBAGH (BMW/NLD)
17. Christoph BEINLICH (BMW/DEU)