Florian Alt had won all the sessions on Friday’s practice day aboard the only Honda in the field, but in today’s decisive Superpole, Lukas Tulovic turned things around for Ducati. With a lead of more than half a second, the defending champion qualified for pole position in the EURO MOTO Superbike class at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
As suspected, Tulovic (Triple M Racing Ducati Frankfurt) had been holding back earlier, fueling speculation. That speculation was put to rest with a margin of exactly 0.622 seconds. Tulo is back in the lead. But the rider from Baden-Württemberg kept things exciting. In the opening minutes of Superpole 2, the Ducati Panigale rider was at the bottom of the timesheet. It wasn’t until his fifth lap that he kicked it into high gear and catapulted himself to the top with a single fast lap—where he remained until the end.
Alongside Tulovic, Twan Smits of Team Apreco Yamaha will be competing in the race. He had to fight his way through Superpole 1 to qualify for Superpole 2. In Superpole 1, he set a personal best on the same lap as Tulovic and finished in second place. Based on his results so far this season, the Dutch rider is considered a podium contender in the races.
Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) finished third. This means the front row is occupied by Ducati, Yamaha, and Honda. How does Alt see his chances for the two Superbike races tomorrow, Sunday? “It all comes down to the start. If Tulo already has a lead going into the first corner, it’ll be tough to catch him. From P2 to P6, anything can happen.”
Behind the top three, a pack of BMW riders follows, starting with Marcel Schrötter (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes), followed by Markus Reiterberger (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW), and Toni Finsterbusch (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes). Schrötter had already finished ahead of Reiterberger in the Superpole pre-practice session, which clearly annoyed the four-time champion. “Marcel rode in my slipstream and was able to improve his lap time as a result,” Reiterberger commented on the internal BMW standings. ButSupersport Schrötter once again finished ahead of crowd favorite Reiterberger today.
“A week ago, it would have been unthinkable for me to be this far ahead,” says the 33-year-old Bavarian. He’s still struggling with the serious injury to his left leg. On top of that, he’s behind in terms of test kilometers on the Superbike. “To me, the track is like a go-kart track with bumps and jolts. But the way things are going so far, I can’t complain.” He’ll make it through the 18 scheduled race laps, Schrötter says, “but my upper body has to compensate a lot to take the strain off my leg.”
EURO MOTO Superbike, Qualifying
1. Lukas TULOVIC (GER/Ducati)
2. Twan SMITS (NED/Yamaha)
3. Florian ALT (GER/Honda)
4. Marcel SCHRÖTTER (GER/BMW)
5. Markus REITERBERGER (GER/BMW)
6. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (GER/Honda)
7. Leon ORGIS (GER/BMW)
8. Kevin ORGIS (GER/BMW)
9. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER/BMW)
10. Jan MOHR (AUT/BMW)
11. Marco FETZ (GER/BMW)
12. Lorenzo ZANETTI (ITA/Ducati)
13. Milan MERCKELBAGH (NLD/BMW)
14. Christoph BEINLICH (DEU/BMW)