The Nürburgring operates by its own rules. The EURO MOTO Superbike elite got a taste of that during Superpole pre-practice. Neither defending champion Lukas Tulovic nor Markus Reiterberger was able to set the fastest lap. Instead, Twan Smits made the first big splash of the weekend. The 22-year-old Dutchman picked up right where he left off after his double victory at Assen and was the fastest with a time of 1:23.592 minutes.
Twan Smits (Team Apreco-Yamaha) is a name to remember. Two weeks after his spectacular crash in Oschersleben—and with a wrist brace on his arm—Smits secured a Superbike one-two finish for Yamaha at the most recent EURO MOTO event in Assen. And he did so even though this is only his second season in the top class. But in 2026, he seems much more mature than he did a year ago. And as he himself says, structure and planning are a central part of his success. He loves clear processes.
With a lap time of 1:23.592, Smits dominated the Superpole pre-practice session starting on the third lap. Prior to that, Lukas Tulovic (Triple M Racing Ducati Frankfurt) had topped the timesheets. Marcel Schrötter (GERT56), Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion), Jan-Ole Jähnig (GERT56), and Kevin Orgis (ORM) also qualified for Superpole 2.
Alt is struggling with the same problems as last year. “Not much grip compared to the other bikes.” Alt is the only Honda rider in the field and says, “That’s why I have to brake later and deeper into the turn, but I can’t fully compensate for it.” That said, he finished eleventh a year ago. At this year’s Öhlins-EURO MOTO race, he posted the fourth-fastest time.
Practice turned out to be a bitter experience for Markus Reiterberger (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW). As one of the favorites, the four-time champion missed out on direct qualification for Superpole 2. Only the six fastest riders qualify for it. The field is incredibly competitive: the top ten riders were all within one second of each other.
“It’s all incredibly tight,” said Reiterberger, shaking his head. “I’m at my limit and have to give more than 100 percent.” Yet the BMW rider had recently been on an upward trend. At Oschersleben and Assen, Reiterberger had closed the gap to the leaders again. But an incident occurred in the Netherlands. While attacking the leader, Twan Smits, he veered off the ideal line in the second race, had to take the emergency exit, and then returned to the track without the required delay. This resulted in a long-lap penalty. His hopes for victory turned into a seventh-place finish. “My mistake. But it was hard for me to take.”
While Smits is currently riding a wave of success, Reiterberger will have to perform well in Superpole 1 tomorrow just to have a chance to compete in Superpole 2 for a starting position in the first three rows. The third-place rider in the championship standings hadn’t expected this.
Superpole Pre-Practice
1. Twan SMITS (NLD/Yamaha)
2. Lukas TULOVIC (GER/Ducati)
3. Marcel SCHRÖTTER (GER/BMW)
4. Florian ALT (GER/Honda)
5. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (GER/BMW)
6. Kevin ORGIS (GER/BMW)
7. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER/BMW)
8. Hannes SOOMER (EST/BMW)
9. Markus REITERBERGER (GER/BMW)
10.Leon ORGIS (GER/BMW)
11.Milan MERCKELBAGH (NLD/BMW)
12. Lorenzo ZANETTI (ITA/Ducati)
13. Marco FETZ (GER/BMW)
14. Jan MOHR (AUT/BMW)
15. Martin VUGRINEC (CRO/BMW)
16. Christoph BEINLICH (GER/BMW)