New championship, new team, new motorcycle, new tires—and still right up there at the front. Lukas Tulovic showed why he is the EURO MOTO Superbike Champion during his debut in the Italian Championship. A third-place finish in the spectacular night race was followed by a triumphant victory in the second race of last weekend at Misano.
For Tulovic, the adventure began with a lot of unknowns. He raced for the Italian BMAX team on a Ducati Panigale V4S. In the EURO MOTO, however, the 26-year-old rides the significantly more aggressive Panigale V4R for Triple M Racing Ducati Frankfurt. On top of that, he was using Dunlop tires for the first time instead of the usual Pirelli tires. A completely different package—and yet Tulovic was competitive right from the first practice session.
He already made a strong impression in qualifying by securing the fourth starting position alongside well-known names such as Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Randy Krummenacher, and Gabriele Giannini. The first race started shortly before 10 p.m. There had also been night practice sessions beforehand. “This is exactly how I imagine the Endurance World Championship,” said Tulovic, for whom such a schedule was uncharted territory. He finished the race in third place. Just hours later, he rode to his first victory in the Italian Road Racing Championship (CIV – Campionato Italiano Velocità), leaving 32 competitors behind him.
This also demonstrated just how high the competitive level is in the EURO MOTO series. Because defending Italian champion Alessandro Delbianco crashed in the second race, Tulovic—in his first start in Italy—was actually the most successful Superbike rider of the entire weekend with 41 points. “I’m very grateful to my German team manager, Matthias Moser, for giving me the green light to race. His approval was essential.” Moser was bursting with pride for his rider.
The first battle of the weekend, however, didn’t take place on the track but off it. Tulovic spent several hours in Misano handling registration, paperwork, and searching for the right people to talk to. The language barrier didn’t make things any easier. Very few Italians speak English. “With a few words of Italian, I at least got a little further,” Tulo said later, relieved.
