Euro Moto Nürburgring attracts numerous guest riders to the starting grid

At previous Euro Moto weekends, spectators at the track have been few and far between. At the races in Most and Brno in the Czech Republic, just a handful of local guest riders turned up. In the Netherlands, Jeffrey Buis from the World Sportbike Championship made an appearance but left again after a crash through no fault of his own and a bruised shoulder. Euro Moto and its support class are currently making a guest appearance at the Nürburgring, making this the only motorcycling event of the year on the former Formula 1 and Grand Prix circuit in the Eifel region. At the penultimate round of the season, the number of guests also rose for the first time

Visitors from the World Championship

In the smallest class, the Euro Moto Sportbike, Lucy Michel has joined the fray. Michel usually competes in the Women’s World Championship, but is returning to Euro Moto for a brief stint on a sportbike under the guidance of her team boss and IDM veteran Stefan Laux. This allows her to bridge the three-month summer break in the Women’s World Championship.

An old acquaintance

He has previously competed in the IDM Supersport class, spent the last two years with Yamaha in the IDM Superbike class, and has also raced in the World Championship. This season, he was forced to put his own career on hold due to his younger brother’s promotion to the World Championship. We’re talking about Maximilian Kofler. The Austrian is making his first appearance at Euro Moto this year, riding a Ducati for Team Eder. Meanwhile, Andreas Kofler, a two-time IDM Supersport champion, is doing his laps at the World Championship round in France.

A full field plus one

In the Euro Moto Superbike class, the starting grid was rather sparse at the recent round in Assen. At the Nürburgring, the numbers of entrants don’t look great, but at least things are looking a bit better. Marco Fetz and Chris Beinlich had saved their already tight budget by skipping Assen and are back in action. Also back is the Estonian Hannes Soomer, who has recovered from his injured shoulder and is using his Nürburgring outing to prepare for the Endurance World Championship final in two weeks’ time.

After a long break, Croatian rider Martin Vugrinec is also making an appearance at the Euro Moto. Following Vugrinec’s split from Oliver Skach’s Kawasaki Superbike team last year, things had gone quiet for Vugrinec on the racing front. Now, following a joint test at Hockenheim, the Croatian and the BMW team BBC, led by Andy Gerlich, have resumed their collaboration.

Bagger eben

Foto: Thorsten Horn

Long list

The Twin Cup, which forms part of the supporting programme, attracts the most guests. During Thursday’s test day, former IDM Superbike rider Arne Tode could also be spotted on the timesheet in the Twin class. However, by the time the free and timed practice sessions got underway on Friday, Tode had already finished his work. Guest riders in the Twin Cup included: Marc Ruber, Michael Götz, Nick Elenschläger, Bernd Ruber, Michael Angersbach, Jessica Langstädtler and Paul Friese.

In the Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R Cup, guest riders Lukas Schäfer and Timo Kubbinga brought the number of entrants up to 22.

At least one guest

The Pro Superstock 1000 Cup certainly can’t complain about empty starting grids. For years, the organisers have been delighted to see a full house. During his trip to the Nürburgring, Italian rider Edoardo Mazzuoli from Team Backpack Racing also joined the line-up on his Aprilia RSV4.

A one-off appearance in Germany

The gentlemen from the European Bagger Cup made a one-off appearance in Germany and at the Euro Moto at the Nürburgring. After all, they have two riders on the grid who have been crowned world champions: co-founder Ruben Xaus and the Irishman James Ellison. The only German participant is Andreas Schäfer.