Tulovic’s Hockenheim odyssey: crash – disqualification – Superbike title

During practice for the Euro Moto final, Lukas Tulovic had one of his rare slip-ups on his Ducati. “In qualifying, you naturally approach things differently than in a race,” he said, playing it down. Yet the pressure had not eased as a result, despite his comfortable points lead in the standings. Nor had it escaped his notice that his closest rival, Marcel Schrötter, had clocked some impressive lap times during a long run in practice.

A message from race control

Tulovic had actually secured sixth place on the grid in Superpole 2. But then race control contacted the Ducati rider, who – following two back-to-back victories – had been required to give up 500 revolutions of his motorbike under the Balance of Performance regulations. Although the infringement – a one-off reduction of 100 revolutions – was manageable, according to team boss Matthias Moser, Tulovic and his team-mate Lorenzo Zanetti had been checked after every practice session and every race since the reduction was introduced; the penalty was imposed immediately. His Superpole times were struck off, and the defending champion was relegated to ninth place. And his mood hit rock bottom.

“I’m going to ride smart today.”

Lukas Tulovic

By Sunday, Lukas Tulovic had come to terms with this setback and was ready to go for the championship title for the second time in his career. “I’ll have to see how I get into the race,” he mused before the first race. “The situation hasn’t changed much. Whether it’s 6th or 9th place. I’ll obviously try to give it my all. But of course I can’t take too many risks, so I’ll be riding sensibly today and then we’ll see where we end up. The few points I need are the goal – and certainly not taking any excessive risks.”

Tulovic watched the race from the safety of 7th place, with space both ahead and behind him. Had the leader, Marcel Schrötter, won, Tulovic’s hopes of clinching the title early would have been dashed. First, Leon Orgis (BMW) gifted him a place when he crashed in front of him, moving the Ducati rider up to sixth. Still not enough. On the 12th of 18 laps, Schrötter was taken out by Markus Reiterberger. Even then, Tulovic wasn’t through yet. His lead in the standings at that point stood at 24.5 points. It would have had to be 25. The final stroke of luck came from Schrötter’s team-mate Toni Finsterbusch, when the Saxon’s front wheel buckled in the Querspange. That sealed the deal for Tulovic. The Ducati rider, who finished fifth, ended up with half a point more than necessary.

Die 1 bleibt

Foto: Felix Wiessmann

Huge relief and a small celebration

“Absolutely indescribable,” said the old and new champion, summing up his emotions after crossing the line. “I had to have a cry first. We really fought hard. Last year’s title was difficult because the race was abandoned and nobody knew what was going on. Today we were able to plan things a bit better. But we struggled a bit all weekend, so I had to weigh up the risks and then had a bit of luck thanks to the few retirements. I just stayed put and rode my own race, and it was enough. I’m absolutely over the moon, of course. Many, many thanks to my whole team, and to everyone who came to support us.”

I just had to have a cry first.

Lukas Tulovic

The man with the number 1 also wrapped up the second race in a similarly uneventful fashion. There was not a single rival in sight, either ahead of him or behind him, and he was able to cruise stress-free to fourth place. The championship celebration that evening was a rather low-key affair. That’s because on Monday, the Ducati rider headed straight from Hockenheim to Vallelunga in Italy, where he stopped off for a test session ahead of the Italian Championship final.