Florian Alt experiences one of the toughest race days of his career at Most

In a postscript to his social media comment following the Most weekend, Euro Moto Superbike rider Florian Alt said: “My Honda went like a dream today.” Ducati rival Lukas Tulovic must certainly have thought the same when Alt smoothly overtook him on the start-finish straight, coming out of his slipstream. “It was certainly one of the toughest race days of my career,” Alt explained once the race was over. “I was rewarded with two second-place finishes.”

Alt plans to visit Tulovic

“It was a massive race,” Alt added after crossing the finish line for the first time that morning, as he immediately slipped on the cooling vest held out to him. After all, the thermometer had already climbed well over 30 degrees. “We really worked towards this all weekend so that I could ride reasonably comfortably. It was very gruelling and one of the hottest races I’ve ever ridden. Even compared to Asia and so on. And yes, the Honda doesn’t perform quite as badly in hot conditions as the others; they suffer a bigger drop in performance. I’m really happy about that and will try to do a bit better straight away, so that Tulovic might get a bit of company for the first two or three laps.”

If the first race had been hot, things were set to get even hotter in the afternoon. Although race control had significantly shortened the start procedure, the distance remained at 16 laps. For Alt, this resulted in leading for several kilometres and, once again, a second-place finish. “After a few laps in the lead, with an outside temperature of 40℃ and a track temperature of 70℃, I was able to head home reasonably satisfied with 40 points and slightly burnt hands, which were treated at the medical centre.”

It’s amazing that the marshals can put up with that. It was absolutely mad.

Florian Alt

“No, to be honest, we didn’t expect that, because it was a really tough day for everyone, I have to say,” Alt added. “A big thank you to the marshals. I’ve just thanked everyone again – they’ve done a brilliant job here and it’s amazing they can put up with it. That was truly incredible. And yes, I tried everything; I tried to get to the front in the first few laps. Tulovic then made a small mistake on the start-finish straight and I was able to get past him beautifully, and then I just tried to set the pace for three or four laps, but to be honest, it’s so hot – it’s really unbelievable – and that’s why I’m happy with the 40 points.”