It wasn’t until two hours after midnight that the lights went out in Pit 25 at the Motorsport Arena in Oschersleben. But by then, the mechanics had worked through the night to get the only MV Agusta in the EURO MOTO Supersport field back in racing shape. Now their hard work has paid off: Luca Göttlicher (LJ Racing/MC Augsburg) will start from third on the grid in both races this weekend. Championship leader Dirk Geiger (Tem Apreco-Yamaha) secured pole position ahead of Daniel Blin. Dirk Geiger will start from pole position, with Daniel Blin (Automarket AF Racing Team)—who finished second in qualifying—starting alongside him.
Göttlicher gritted his teeth during the 25-minute second qualifying session. As he steered the MV Agusta into the right-hand turns, his old knee injury made itself painfully known. “To be honest, it really limits me,” says the curly-haired Bavarian. The first Supersport of the weekend is scheduled for 5:05 p.m.: 15 laps over 55.005 kilometers. Will Göttlicher make it through the race? “I certainly hope so. If only for my mechanics. They’ve put in so much work. Now it’s my turn to return the favor.” On Friday, “Lucky Luc” crashed off his bike during the second free practice session after hitting a high-speed bump.
Championship leader Dirk Geiger secured pole position at the Motorsport Arena with a lap time of 1:26.549 minutes. He had never been that fast on the track before. The native of Hesse had actually set his sights even higher: “I want to post a 1:25 time,” but he sat out the first qualifying session on the track—which was still damp from overnight rain—to avoid taking any unnecessary risks.
By securing pole position, Geiger put himself in a strong position in the title race. In the last race before the EURO MOTO summer break, he had already taken the lead in the standings from his Polish rival, Daniel Blin. He currently holds a two-point lead. The fact that Blin’s injured shoulder has not yet fully healed also works in the German’s favor at Oschersleben.
“I hope I can get through the race successfully,” says 24-year-old Blin, refusing to give up, “but I’ll probably have to improvise a lot. This track isn’t exactly one of my favorites. We didn’t test here, and the suspension requires a different setup every year. We’ll see.” In qualifying, he was 0.756 seconds behind Geiger’s fastest time.
EURO MOTO Supersport, Qualifying
1. Dirk GEIGER (GER/Yamaha)
2. Daniel BLIN (POL/Ducati)
3. Luca GÖTTLICHER (GER/MV Agusta)
4. Lennox LEHMANN (GER/Yamaha)
5. Luca DE VLEESCHAUWER (BEL/Yamaha)
6. Marvin SIEBDRATH (GER/Honda)
7. Filip FEIGL (CZE/Yamaha)
8. Freddie HEINRICH (GER/Kawasaki)
9. Jorke ERWIG (GER/Ducati)
10. Julius AHRENKIEL-FRELLSEN (DEN/Honda)
11. Filip NOVOTNÝ (CZE/Ducati)
12. Marvin KREIMES (GER/Ducati)
13. Julius Caesar RÖRIG (GER/Honda)
14. Peter FEIGL (CZE/Yamaha)
15. Jindrich ŠKOPEK (CZE/Yamaha)