Euro Moto Nürburgring: Twan Smits is Friday’s fastest rider

After two free practice sessions, it was time for the Pre-Practice on Friday afternoon. Six riders, led by Twan Smits, qualified for Superpole 2. The rest will have to fight for a place amongst the top nine on Saturday.

First free practice: Twan Smits on top again

In the first free practice session of the Euro Moto Superbike, Twan Smits needed just three laps to beat his best time from the previous day by two-tenths of a second. On the fourth lap, the Apreco Team rider went one better on his Yamaha and broke the 1.24 barrier. With a time of 1.23.809 mins, he underlined his lead. Among his closest rivals, Jan-Ole Jähnig and Markus Reiterberger came closest with times of 1.24.166 minutes and 1.24.286 minutes respectively. However, the gap to Smits remained.

Four minutes before the end of the session, Marcel Schrötter had also warmed up on his eleventh lap and moved into third place, just behind Jähnig, with a time of 1.24.200 minutes. Meanwhile, Smits continued to clock fast lap times in the 1.24-minute range, some of which were quicker than those of his rivals. They, too, posted a string of 1.24-minute times, but none could challenge Smits’s best time. The gap remained at 0.357 minutes. The order was Smits, Jähnig, Schrötter, Reiterberger and Alt.

Second free practice: Marcel Schrötter strikes back

The string of 1.24-minute times continued. Markus Reiterberger claimed the fastest time for the first time after five minutes, but it didn’t last long. Twan Smits once again took the lead with a time of 1.24.171 minutes. However, his lead was a mere 0.031 minutes. Leon Orgis emerged in third place, keeping Lukas Tulovic at bay. Shortly afterwards, Florian Alt squeezed in between them.

However, the wait for a 1.23-minute lap time proved in vain. Marcel Schrötter had taken a while to get himself and his BMW up to speed on the Nürburgring, but with six laps still to go, he took first place with a time of 1.24.119, putting him 0.052 minutes ahead of Smits and Reiterberger. Lukas Tulovic still had some work to do and was lapping the circuit in sixth place. Schrötter was in the zone and beat his own best time with a 1.24.044 minutes. The competition still had four minutes left to strike back. Smits reduced the gap to Schrötter to 0.098 mins. Reiterberger had seen enough and ended his practice session early. Tulovic had moved up to fourth place on his final lap with a time of 1.24.298 mins.

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Pre-Practice: The gaps are narrowing

All good things come in threes, and to round off the Superbike day, it was time for Pre-Practice, in which the fastest six riders can look forward to direct qualification for Superpole 2. As always, the GERT56 team were the last to take to the track. Lukas Tulovic had held back somewhat in the two free practice sessions and took the lead with a time of 1:24.012. Shortly afterwards, however, Twan Smits was even faster once again, clocking a 1:23.614 on his first timed lap and following that up immediately with a 1:23.592. Up to sixth place, held by Hannes Soomer, everyone else had posted times in the 1.24s on the first lap. A little later, Kevin and Leon Orgis also joined this group.

Even after ten of the 30-minute practice session, Schrötter, Finsterbusch and Jähnig were still nowhere to be seen on the track. In the meantime, Lukas Tulovic had also managed to clock a 1:23.731, but the time was 0.139 minutes off the pace needed to knock Twan Smits off the top spot. Whilst the majority of their rivals headed back to the pits at the halfway point, the GERT56 trio finally made their appearance. Within a single lap, they had settled into third, fourth and fifth places. Schrötter, in third place behind Smits and Tulovic, clocked a lap time of 1:23.935, which he subsequently confirmed with a time of 1:23.764. However, this improvement did nothing to change his third-place position.

Behind Smits, Tulovic and Schrötter, Florian Alt, Jan-Ole Jähnig and Kevin Orgis also qualified directly for Superpole 2. Everyone else – from Finsterbusch through to Soomer and Reiterberger – had to settle for a place in Superpole 1.