Euro Moto Nürburgring: Smits shakes up the Superpole and sets the fastest time

In Superpole 1, all those who had failed to make it through to Superpole 2 in yesterday’s pre-practice session had another chance to qualify for the decisive practice session in the battle for the best starting positions. At the halfway stage of Superpole 1, the order was Markus Reiterberger ahead of Leon Orgis and Hannes Soomer, who was back on the Euro Moto grid for the first time following his long injury lay-off.

But in the final sprint, Leon Orgis moved into the lead. In fourth place, Superbike returnee Martin Vugrinec was biding his time. But he was 0.175 minutes short of one of the coveted places in the top three, and 0.726 minutes off first place. On one of his final laps, Toni Finsterbusch really put his foot down, clinching second place and thereby knocking Soomer out of the top three.

Twan Smits is particularly fast

Leon Orgis and Markus Reiterberger were in fine form after Superpole 1; they wasted no time at the start of Superpole 2, which began immediately afterwards, and took the lead with lap times in the mid-1.23s before retreating to their respective pits for a brief breather.

Meanwhile, Twan Smits and Lukas Tulovic got down to business and clocked their personal best lap times. Smits surpassed himself in the process and took the lead with a time of 1.22.936 minutes. Tulovic was also quick and raced into second place. But he was still 0.501 minutes slower than Smits. Shortly afterwards, Marcel Schrötter tried his luck. Although the BMW rider set the second-fastest time – and was thus faster than Tulovic – even the former World Championship rider couldn’t come close to Smits’ time. He remained 0.474 minutes behind.

Lukas Tulovic

Foto: Thorsten Horn

The others battled it out from fourth place onwards. Here too, lap times in the 1.23s were recorded, but they were mid-1.23s rather than the low 1.23s required for the front row of the grid. Florian Alt and Toni Finsterbusch found it the hardest going; both managed only a 1.23.9, putting them a second behind the leading Dutchman. Markus Reiterberger, in sixth place, was the first to see the chequered flag. Lukas Tulovic had once again gone all out in an attempt to oust Smits from the top spot. Although he couldn’t beat Smits, the Ducati rider did at least manage to move up to second place, reducing the gap to 0.238 minutes. Marcel Schrötter positioned himself just behind him, also on the front row.

Jan-Ole Jähnig, Leon Orgis and Markus Reiterberger took their places on the second row. This meant the second row was entirely made up of BMW riders. Row 3 went to Kevin Orgis, Florian Alt – who, as always at the Nürburgring, was struggling to find grip – and Toni Finsterbusch.

Marcel Schrötter

Foto: Thorsten Horn