Assen Superpole 2: Smits capitalises on home advantage, Tulovic and Schrötter on row 1

Kevin and Leon Orgis, along with their BMW team-mate Jan Mohr, kept up the same pace straight away. The trio had left Florian Alt, Lorenzo Zanetti and Milan Merckelbagh behind in Superpole 1 and were therefore well warmed up for Superpole 2. Also on the grid were Twan Smits, Marcel Schrötter, Markus Reiterberger, Jan-Ole Jähnig, Lukas Tulovic and Toni Finsterbusch. The top nine grid positions were up for grabs.

Smits had set the pace the previous day with a time of 1:37.146. However, it had rained on Saturday morning and it was noticeably cooler than on the sweltering Friday. So, when it came to finding the right set-up, the riders were still a little in the dark. Smits and Tulovic were the last riders to take to the track. Reiterberger was fastest in the first sector of the first fast lap, as well as in sectors 2 and 3. In the end, he was just ahead with a time of 1:38.022. Behind him came his team-mate Jan Mohr.

Lukas Tulovic

Foto: Thorsten Horn

The live timing display couldn’t keep up with the updates. Kevin Orgis was nowhere to be seen after the first sector; the electronics on his BMW had failed. Four minutes before the final push, the order was: Reiterberger, Jähnig, Schrötter. However, apart from Tulovic in 4th place and Leon Orgis in 7th, all the riders were still on the track.

Just over a minute before the chequered flag, Smits emerged in first place. A few seconds later, Schrötter took the lead and Reiterberger pushed Smits down to third place. He was 0.035 minutes behind Schrötter, who had set the pace with a time of 1:37.461. But Smits was determined to secure pole position in front of his home crowd and responded with a time of 1:37.128. Suddenly, Lukas Tulovic emerged with a new fastest time of 1.37.083 minutes. His timing, however, was only almost perfect. As the last driver on the track, Smits still had one possible lap left to respond. And the Dutchman made the most of it. With a time of 1.37.016, he took the lead.

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The remaining places in row 2 went to Reiterberger, Jähnig and Finsterbusch. Row 3 went to Mohr, Leon and Kevin Orgis. Tulovic’s grid position is still subject to review, as he must first present his rev count data to the technical commissioners to prove that he did not exceed the rev limit of 15,600.

Marcel Schrötter

Foto: Thorste Horn