‘Supercross trainee’ Noah Ludwig was the top German rider in Stuttgart

It was something of a sensation when Noah Ludwig raced to third place on the podium on Friday evening at his first Supercross event in Stuttgart in November 2025. A year later, the second-year Supercross apprentice repeated exactly the same feat, securing the best German result at the 42nd edition of Stuttgart’s iconic event. On the ‘Night of Revenge’, the 22-year-old from Aschersleben secured another holeshot in the final, but was overtaken by Switzerland’s Cyril Elsener after half a lap. It is difficult to interpret this as a strategic move. Starting from the back of the field and putting in another series of fast laps, the rider from Saxony-Anhalt fought his way up to seventh place. In the Princes’ Classification – which corresponds to the Cup standings – he is currently fourth and thus the highest-placed German.

Speaking to SPEEDWEEK.com, Ludwig initially confirmed that, naturally, his aim was to get back on the podium. However, he had slight reservations on Friday following the first free practice sessions and qualifying. “Things weren’t going too well for me then. I thought to myself: maybe it’s just not meant to be this year. But from the evening sessions onwards, things went really well. I tried to give it my all again, and in the end that was rewarded with another podium finish.”

Unsurprisingly, he is now setting his sights on the same for Dortmund in mid-January 2027. He commented: “Dortmund is a fair bit bigger than Stuttgart. I’ll obviously give it my all again and think that, if I get some good starts and stay on the bike, it could work out again. But I also know that in Supercross, things can happen much more quickly in such a confined space.”

Once again, his typically strong starts – both indoors and outdoors – proved helpful. He himself had only a limited explanation for this. “Sure, the starts really helped me again this weekend, but I honestly don’t know why that’s the case for me. Maybe I just have good reflexes, or perhaps it’s down to the quality of the kit I’ve got. In any case, I don’t have any special trick for it. It’s just something I’ve got in me, and I hope it stays that way.”

As there’s always room for improvement, the question arose as to how he might avoid a similar mess to Saturday’s in future? “Of course, that was a very tough block pass. Perhaps in a similar situation I shouldn’t leave the door open so wide and, especially in the early stages, I need to close off the lines so that no one can launch an attack like that. Of course I know that too, but during the race you sometimes get into a bit of a tunnel.”

On the subject of improvements, it was clear that Noah Ludwig was handling the ‘washboard’ section much better compared to last year. His explanation was: “Yes, I’d say so too. Of course, there’s still room for improvement, but for me it was definitely a significant step up. We’ve made some changes to the suspension compared to last year, and I’ve realised that you can’t let fear get the better of you. Last year, I was still a bit nervous about it. But it’s getting better and better.”