Laurent Hoffmann wins heart-stopping finale, Lukas Maurer on the podium

In Superbike class practice on the 4.420-kilometre Circuit de Chimay street circuit, Ouri Bikkems secured pole position ahead of Yan Ancia and Peter Hickman. The second row of the grid was shared by Laurent Hoffmann, Lukas Maurer and Fedrik Matthys.

After the first of nine laps, Ancia led the field, closely followed by Bikkems, Maurer and Hoffmann, who were just a few tenths of a second behind. Hickman had already lost a few seconds to the front-runner, and the European Series Road Racing leader, Matthys, had even dropped back to ninth place.

From the second lap onwards, the pole-setter took the lead, although Ancia reclaimed the lead from him on the fifth lap. By the sixth lap, the order was Ancia 2.2 seconds ahead of Hoffmann, with Maurer and Bikkems in his wake. Chimay newcomer Hickman was in sixth place at this stage.

In the final third of the race, Hoffmann set one fastest lap after another, steadily closing the gap on Ancia. On the final lap, he actually managed to seize the lead and relegate Ancia to second place. Third place went to Maurer, ahead of Bikkems, Mike Parmentier, Matthys and Hickman.

ESR Superbike results, Race 1, 26 July

1. Laurent Hoffmann, BMW. 2. Yan Ancia*, BMW, 0.941 sec behind. 3. Lukas Maurer*, Yamaha, +2.580 sec. 4. Ouri Bikkems*, BMW. 5. Mike Parmentier*, Honda. 6. Fedrik Matthys, BMW. Also: 7. Peter Hickman*, BMW. 19. Christoph Kreller. 22. Paul Manx.

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