Schrötter (BMW) spoils Ducati’s early title celebrations at the Nürburgring

Last week was a real feat of endurance for Marcel Schrötter in many respects, as he travelled straight from a test session for the World Endurance Championship final at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, in southern France, to the Nürburgring on Wednesday evening. The penultimate round of the 2026 Euro Moto season took place there.

In the Eifel region, things got underway as early as Thursday with a day of testing. Although Schrötter had got very little sleep the previous night, he was among the first to tackle the intensive day’s work, which ultimately paid off for Schrötter and his GERT56 team. Whilst things got off to a somewhat slow start for Schrötter, he ultimately secured third place on the starting grid.

A clear task for the races

Schrötter’s task for both races was clear: to do everything possible to finish as far up the order as possible, whilst keeping the current championship leader, Lukas Tulovic, behind him. Only in this way could Schrötter prevent the Ducati rider from securing the title early. Even though his last reserves weren’t quite enough to secure victory against a rampant Twan Smits in the end, Schrötter’s plan to postpone the title decision until the finale at Hockenheim worked out with two second-place finishes.

“The weekend at the Nürburgring was brilliant,” said a delighted Marcel Schrötter. “It’s a joy to see the progress we’ve made over the course of the weekend. Especially after a difficult start, we improved steadily until we were setting really fast lap times. We weren’t the fastest in Superpole, but given that the times were almost a second faster than the previous lap record, and that we maintained that pace in the races too, it underlines the high level we’ve returned to.”

Pace stepped up

“In the first race, the leading group actually set that pace right from the start,” he explained. “I’m very pleased that I was always able to keep up. Right up until three or four laps from the end, I even felt that I could get more involved in the battle for victory. But the pace was very high throughout the race, and I felt I had to ride a bit closer to the limit than our rivals, which meant I had to put more strain on the tyres. When the tyres eventually started to fade again, it became a bit more difficult. But I was very happy with my performance and second place.”

“We didn’t make many changes to the bike for the second race, as we were already within striking distance,” said Schrötter. “Apart from a few minor adjustments to the electronics that we tried out, I knew how the bike would feel. However, the conditions in the afternoon were quite different due to the warmer temperatures, which affected the grip. That’s why I didn’t feel quite as comfortable as before. Overall, it was a bit more difficult to get into the race and find the right feel for the bike. But in the end, the most important thing was to finish ahead of Lukas and thus postpone the title decider until Hockenheim. That was our main goal for this weekend. Of course, it would have been nicer if there’d been more bikes between us in both races. But we achieved exactly what we’d set out to do: a significant improvement on the last two weekends. That’s what I’m most pleased about.”

Marcel Schrötter

Foto: GERT56 by RS Speedbike

“Now I’m looking forward to the finale at Hockenheim, which will be a bit like a home race for me,” said Schrötter, looking ahead to the near future. “Although the circuit isn’t actually in Bavaria, it’s the one on the racing calendar that’s closest to where I live. Lots of friends and fans will be there to cheer me on. I just want to enjoy it and give it my all. Then we’ll see how it turns out. “Overall, I think it’s already been a successful debut season for me in Euro Moto. It’s fun, and I’m enjoying racing here. But if we could round off this season with a spectacular finale, that would of course be absolutely fantastic.”

“We’ve shown in the races so far what we’re capable of, and that there’s still plenty more potential in us,” the Bavarian added confidently. “So my provisional season review looks promising. We’ve dropped a few races, but those are the kinds of experiences you pick up in your first year and take with you. Nevertheless, we’ll be giving it our all at Hockenheim, whatever it takes. In between, there’s still a race weekend at Le Castellet in the World Endurance Championship, which I’m just as much looking forward to. In the final race there, a place in the top five of the overall standings is still up for grabs. So September is set to be very exciting. But the Nürburgring was already a great start to the month and has left me wanting more.”