Assen: Back row for Florian Alt – debut for the former champion

Florian Alt is still in the running – at least for the runners-up spot in the Euro Moto Superbike championship – on his HRP Honda. In qualifying at Assen, he could only manage 10th on the grid, which – given the meagre field of just 12 riders – means he’ll be starting from the back row for both races on Sunday. Such a meagre result for Florian Alt and the Honda team Holzhauer Racing Promotion – particularly as there were no obvious problems – is disappointing and reason enough to ask some questions. In a one-on-one interview with SPEEDWEEK.com, the 30-year-old explained his predicament at Assen: “To be honest, I don’t know if I’ve ever been on the back row before, either in the IDM Superbike or now in Euro Moto. But there’s always a first time.”

Offering a more in-depth analysis, he said: “Assen is always a tough one for us on the Honda. In recent years, Assen has always been a very difficult circuit for us, just like the Nürburgring. It’s down to the grip levels, which are simply always very low. That doesn’t exactly work in our favour. That’s how today’s result came about. What else can I say about it?”

We simply can’t find any grip at the moment.

Florian Alt

“The bike’s fine,” he assures us. “We’re just struggling with grip. We simply can’t find any grip at the moment; that’s our main problem. I can do whatever I want, and we’ve worked hard on it as a team, but we’re just not making any progress in this regard.” His gap to pole-sitter Twan Smits was 1.8 seconds at the end of Q1 and Q2, though ‘Flo’ put this into perspective: “After the rain until midday, our track was still a bit wet in Q1, so you can’t really compare it directly. The lap times dropped even further after that. Realistically, we’re one to 1.2 seconds off the pace, because we were already going faster on Friday.”

And what are his plans for the races given this starting position? “A top-five finish will be tough,” says the Honda rider. “We’ll try to aim for sixth or seventh place. But I’ve been saying all season that if we have a really good weekend, we can be in contention for the podium. If we have a normal weekend, it’ll just be a top-five finish, and right now it’s just a tough weekend. So, in principle, it doesn’t really surprise me.”