Euro Moto Supersport: Title battle between Geiger and Blin intensifies

Daniel Blin of Team Automarket AF-Racing arrived at the final race in Assen as the leader of the Euro Moto Supersport championship. He lost that lead following a one-two finish by his long-standing rival Dirk Geiger and currently sits in second place in the Supersport standings, 13 points behind.

The Assen weekend was decided not only by a fast-starting Dirk Geiger – who had even won Race 1 after starting from the pit lane – but also by the two penalties that Daniel Blin incurred. The Pole accepted the first penalty without complaint. He had exceeded the speed limit twice in the pit lane and was consequently demoted on the starting grid.

Clear announcement regarding the penalty

After crossing the finish line in Race 1, the Pole faced another blow. According to race control, he had cut the corner at Turn 6, failing to slow down for one second as required by the regulations, and had thereby gained an advantage. For this, he received a long-lap penalty, which was converted into a three-second penalty due to the short duration of the race. Although he had crossed the finish line in first place, the extra seconds meant he was classified third, behind Geiger and Luca Göttlicher. The penalty cost him nine points, a fact he commented on quite strongly afterwards.

That’s pointless.

Daniel Blin

“To me, this penalty is totally ‘stupid’,” said Blin. “I was forced off the track by Lennox Lehmann and tried to salvage the situation. And then I was penalised for that. That’s pointless. I’ve lodged a protest; we’ll see what happens next.” After Race 2, Blin, finishing second, congratulated Geiger, who had won again, on his success. “It was all fine; it was a good job with the bike and the set-up,” Blin assured. “I was able to set a better pace. It was a shame about the early stages – there was simply too much chaos, which meant I was behind right from the start. But congratulations to Dirk. He was just super-fast this weekend. He deserves it. We’ll just have to do better next time; see you at the Nürburgring.”

Topic of the week

Ferrari row with Hamilton and Leclerc: Team principal Vasseur must now step up

Ferrari came away empty-handed at the Dutch Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, Charles Leclerc fifth. Afterwards, both drivers were angry, and team principal Fred Vasseur found himself having to explain the situation.

Mathias Brunner

Read more

Euro Moto Supersport standings after nine of 13 races