Mettet (Belgium), 6 October 2023 – This brand-new day for the S1GP World Championship welcomed the qualifying sessions for the races scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. This specific schedule has been arranged because the GP of Belgium Mettet will take place at the same time as the very famous Superbiker race. Marc Reiner Schmidt (L30 Racing Tm Factory) set the pole position after a hard-fought battle with Lukas Hollbacher (MTR Ktm Racing).
Free practice
In the first free practices, Marc Reiner Schmidt (L30 Racing Tm Factory) and Lukas Hollbacher (MTR Ktm Racing), the two rivals who are fighting for the title, immediately started to fight and it was clear it was all about the two of them. Hollbacher set the best time while Schmidt lost the second place after he felt comfortable with that, but teammate Elia Sammartin (L30 Racing Tm Factory) overtook him. Andreas Buschberger (Husqvarana) was the best rookie. The leader of the second session of free practices was Marc Reiner Schmidt, chased by Lukas Hollbacher who was a few thousandths of a second away. A solid third place went to Romain Kaivers (TC4R1 Racing Team).
Time practice
The time practice was featured by a thrilling duel between Schmidt and Hollbacher who competed for the leadership in the standings. It seemed like Schmidt had taken the lead, but Hollbacher’s performance was solid and with a perfect lap prevailed in the final minutes of the session. Elia Sammartin was third qualified. Steve Bonnal (TC4R1 Racing Team) ended up fourth, Andreas Buschberger fifth and Romain Kaivers rounded off the last three places to access the Super Pole.
Superpole S1GP
Breathtaking battle for the Superpole. The first riders who got to the track could not improve their time set in the qualifying and only Buschberger could gain one position. Elia Sammartin was the penultimate to get to the track, but made a few mistakes which cost him dearly and lost one position. Marc Reiner Schmidt was amazing as he cut down almost one second from the time set in the time practice, so the German rider reached the top of the standings. Maybe Lukas Hollbacher was a bit under pressure because of the time set by his teammate and made a mistake in the off-road, eventually qualifying sixth.
Marc Reiner Schmidt set an extra point as he was the pole setter and extended to 4 points his advantage over his main rival.
S1GP Time Practice Top Ten:
HOLLBACHER Lukas (AUT, KTM) 1:36.444; 2. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER, TM) 1:36.566; 3. SAMMARTIN Elia (ITA, TM) 1:37.424; 4. BONNAL Steve (FRA, TM) 1:37.758; 5. BUSCHBERGER Andreas (AUT, Husqvarna) 1:37.779; 6. KAIVERS Romain (BEL, TM) 1:37.782; 7. SZALAI Tim (FRA, Husqvarna) 1:38.009; 8. CATHERINE Youry (FRA, Honda) 1:38.287; 9. SITNIANSKY Milan (CZE, Honda) 1:38.729; 10. HOAREAU Alexis (FRA, TM) 1:38.899
S1GP Superpole
SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER, TM) 1:36.575; 2. BUSCHBERGER Andreas (AUT, Husqvarna) 1:37.698; 3. BONNAL Steve (FRA, TM) 1:38.208; 4. SAMMARTIN Elia (ITA, TM) 1:38.360; 5. KAIVERS Romain (BEL, TM) 1:38.784; 6. HOLLBACHER Lukas (AUT, KTM) 1:49.786;
Time Table
10.30 Warm Up – 12.20 Race 1 – 16.55 Fast Race
Complete results available HERE.
SUPERMOTO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – GP of BELGIUM METTET – QUICK FACTS
Circuit length: 2043 mt (1.358,5 mt asphalt, 684,5 mt off-raod)
Temperature: 20°
Weather conditions: Sun
The FIM Supermoto Worldchampionship will be broadcasted delayed, by clicking HERE you will obtain the full tv list.
In the photo: Marc-Reiner Schmidt
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