ESR Round 1, Horice: Laurent Hoffmann postpones title decision with victory

With the fastest time in practice, Laurent Hoffmann secured an ideal starting position for the first race of the European Series Road Racing (ESR) in Horice, the Czech Republic. The Belgian knew he absolutely had to win the race to retain any chance of claiming the title in Sunday’s final.

With a perfect start, the Belgian BMW rider immediately took the lead and quickly pulled away from his pursuers. By the time the chequered flag fell after ten laps on the 5.150-kilometre road circuit, he had built up a comfortable lead. “Some of you may know that my wife was born here, so this victory is very special to me. After Chimay, Horice is my second home race,” the two-time IRRC Supersport champion told the spectators during the winner’s interview.

With his second-place finish, Fedrik Matthys took an important step towards winning the title. However, Hoffmann’s team-mate was incredibly lucky. On the second lap, the Belgian made a momentary mistake. In a tight left-hand bend, he grazed a bale of straw with the inside of his knee and only just managed to avoid a crash. He now heads into the final of the twelve races with a 17-point lead. Even if his team-mate were to win, a seventh-place finish would be enough for him to end the season as overall champion.

Behind the third-placed Swede Markus Karlsson (BMW), an entertaining three-way battle raged between the Slovak Tomas Toth (Kawasaki), the Finn Anssi Koski (Yamaha) and the German Nico Müller, who made up for the fact that the top three positions were already firmly decided. It wasn’t until the penultimate lap that Müller managed to get ahead of his rivals, only to crash head-first into the track barrier at the start of the final lap. Shortly afterwards, the BMW rider was smiling again.

Behind this trio, too, there was a battle for positions right up to the finish line. In the end, the Austrian Florian Astner (BMW) prevailed over the Dutchman Kevin de Haan (Yamaha). The Czech rider Jakub Sprojcar (Yamaha), the Austrian Dominik Haslinger (Kawasaki) and the Swede Rasmus Lindström (Honda) rounded off the top 10.

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Results, ESR Horice, Race 1, 8 August 2026

1. Laurent Hoffmann (B), BMW, 10 laps in 22:46.229 mins. 2. Fedrik Matthys (B), BMW, 9.602 sec. 3. Markus Karlsson (S)*, BMS, +14.866 sec behind. 4. Tomas Toth (SK)*, Kawasaki. 5. Anssi Koski (FIN), Yamaha. 6. Florian Astner (A)*, BMW. 7. Kevin de Haan (NL)*, Yamaha. 8. Jakub Sprojcar (CZ), Yamaha. 9. Dominik Haslinger (A)*, Kawasaki. 10. Rasmus Lindström (S), Honda. Also: 14. Christoph Kreller (D)*, BMW. 16. Paul Manx (D)*, Honda. *Guest rider (no points).