RACE REPORT: EuroMoto NÜRBURGRING

Podium out of reach

The EuroMoto Motorcycle Championship was held at the Nürburgring in the Eifel last weekend, and Markus Reiterberger – who hadn’t raced at the Nürburgring for some time – had hoped for more from the ‘Green Hell’, but is nevertheless quite satisfied with his team’s performance despite missing out on a podium place.

The weekend began with a test day on Thursday. Straight from the previous test for the World Endurance Championship, in which he had taken part earlier in the week at Le Castellet in France, he headed to the Nürburgring in the Ahr Valley. The lap times were good, and Reiti was able to hold his own in the Friday practice sessions for the event, finishing in positions around second, third and fourth. However, the times of the top riders are so close together that a few hundredths of a second can mean losing several places. In the Superpole pre-practice session, Reiterberger then only managed ninth place. After finishing second in Superpole 1, he progressed to Superpole 2, where the 32-year-old secured sixth place on the grid for Sunday’s two races – not the ideal starting position given how close the times were among the top riders, but anything was still possible.

The Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW Team then worked hard on the set-up oft he BMW M 1000 RR with Reiti between Saturday and Sunday and found a setup that would take Reiti to the podium. He managed to keep up with the top three in both races, but was unable to overtake them as he couldn’t attack the leading group. Despite his good race pace, Reiterberger had to settle for fourth place in both races.

More information and results are available at: https://euromoto.racing/

Markus Reiterberger:

“The weekend had its ups and downs. Thursday and Friday got off to a great start. I was always second, third or fourth. Then came the pre-qualifying session and I only finished ninth. We were stagnating whilst everyone else was improving. As a result, I had to go through Qualifying 1, but I made it through to Qualifying 2 and secured sixth on the grid. I knew that wouldn’t be enough to fight for a podium place. That’s why my team and I worked really hard again between Saturday and Sunday and managed to take another step in the right direction. My race pace was on a par with my qualifying pace, which meant I could keep up with the top three, but that’s all I could do. I couldn’t attack them. From lap one to lap 18, I pushed as hard as I could, sometimes even going over the limit, which meant I slid around a lot. But it wasn’t enough. We’re really close, but the standard in this series is brutally high and the lap times are much faster than they were last year – a few hundredths per lap make all the difference. Nevertheless, the races were good and fun, and my team has once again shown just how brilliantly we all work together, and I’d like to thank everyone for that. We know what we need to do for the final at the Hockenheimring at the end of the month.”