Alcarras (Catalunya), 16 September 2023 – Lukas Hollbacher was the absolute star of the first racing day in Alcarras. The Austrian rider came home with the superpole first and then ruled Race1 with a model performance.
Time practice & Superpole S1GP
The top rider protagonist of the qualifying was French Thomas Chareyre (TC4R1 Racing), who set the best time since the free practice, but Lukas Hollbacher (MTR Ktm Racing) is in a great shape too and qualified just 23 thousandths of a second away from the best time. Third was Marc Reiner Schmidt (L30 Racing Tm Factory), while the top six of riders who will access the super pole was rounded off by Spanish Jules Avila Cortes (Honda), fifth was Steve Bonnal (TC4R1 Racing) and Alexis Hoareau (TC4R1 Racing). The young French rider impressed everybody at the end of his first World Championship race with the 450cc, as he was enrolled in the National Championship with the 250cc.
The superpole was thrilling, with Hoareau affected by a flat tyre in the main lap which forced him to retire but he kept the sixth place. Marc Reiner Schmidt set the new best time in his lap and Lukas Hollbacher improved his performance in the off-road section thanks to an excellent result and took the lead. The last rider to get to the track was Thomas Chareyre who tried to stay in front of all the others, but slipped in the first corner of the min straight and could not do any better than the fifth position overall.
S1GP Time Practice Top Ten:
CHAREYRE Thomas (FRA, TM) 1:32.898; 2. HOLLBACHER Lukas (AUT, KTM) 1:32.921; 3. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER, TM) 1:33.298; 4. AVILA CORTES Julen (ESP, Honda) 1:33.353; 5. BONNAL Steve (FRA, TM) 1:34.017; 6. HOAREAU Alexis (FRA, TM) 1:34.370; 7. VINCENOT Germain (FRA, Honda) 1:34.466; 8. SAMMARTIN Elia (ITA, TM) 1:34.662; 9. BUSCHBERGER Andreas (AUT, Husqvarna) 1:34.671; 10. SZALAI Tim (FRA, Husqvarna) 1:34.731
Race One
At the start of the first moto Lukas Hollbacher (MTR Ktm Racing) pulled away from the pole position to take the lead of the race, chased by Marc Reiner Schmidt (l30 Racing Tm Factory). It was a solid start for Thomas Chareyre (TC4R1 Racing) as well who moved from the fifth place to go closer to Marc Reiner Schmidt.
Hollbacher took advantage of the battle between Schmidt and Chareyre to open a gap over his rivals.
Chareyre tried to get closer to the German rider to overtake him but made a mistake and slipped like he did in the superpole. The French rider had to start over from the 11th place but thanks to a solid recovery qualified third overall. Lukas Hollbacher kept an impressive race pace for the entire race so he could win with a good margin over Marc Reiner Schmidt.
In the Rookies standings, Steve Bonnal (TC4R1 Racing) took the victory of Race1.
S1GP Race 1 Top Ten:
HOLLBACHER Lukas (AUT, KTM) 12 laps in 18:02.316; 2. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER, TM) +06.758; 3. CHAREYRE Thomas (FRA, TM) +16.643; 4. BONNAL Steve (FRA, TM) +20.971; 5. BUSCHBERGER Andreas (AUT, Husqvarna) +24.554; 6. SAMMARTIN Elia (ITA, TM) +26.812; 7. VINCENOT Germain (FRA, Honda) +28.056; 8. HOAREAU Alexis (FRA, TM) +31.580; 9. AVILA CORTES Julen (ESP, Honda) +31.581; 10. SITNIANSKY Milan (CZE, Honda) +35.541
Time Table
09.50 Warm Up – 13.00 Fast Race – 16.00 Superfinal
Complete results available HERE.
SUPERMOTO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – GP of Catalunya – QUICK FACTS
Circuit length: 1.666 mt (1.217 mt asphalt, 386 mt off-raod, 63 mt Sky-section)
Temperature: 28°
Weather conditions: Sun
The FIM Supermoto Worldchampionship will be broadcasted delayed, by clicking HERE you will obtain the full tv list.
In the photo: #72 Lukas Hollbacher – Massimiliano Damiani (Racing Manager Metzeler)
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