Race report Colmar-Berg 2024
Kick-off in Colmar-Berg
18–20 May 2024
Colmar-Berg, Luxemburg
On 17.05.24 we went to our first real event as a team. After the test and set-up runs at the beginning of April in Mirecourt, France, Josef, Andy and Florian travelled to the Goodyear test track in Colmar-Berg Luxembourg this time. Unfortunately, the weather forecast did not predict anything good and so it was to be. The journey and the assembly of the pavilions took place in the pouring rain.
The bad weather continued for most of Saturday. The first qualifying sessions on Saturday afternoon took place on a drying track. Andy started in the Superbike class. He actually starts in this class on his Ducai 998, but unfortunately it had to be stopped due to a technical defect. Instead, he rode the practice sessions and the races on his smaller Ducai 900SSie, which is actually designed for the TopTwin class but also fits into the Superbike regulations. In the free practice sessions on Saturday and Sunday, he was able to improve his time by 1.6 seconds and was 16th on the grid in the high-horsepower Superbike class with a 1:32.478. In the TopTwin class, which he also contested with the 900SSie, he was able to post a 1:32.969 and thus started both races from the third row and 7th on the grid.
Josef and Florian also competed in the TopTwin class. Josef had his two Aprilias with him. One was his Aprilia RRV450, which was used as a rain bike, and the other was his new Aprilia RS660. The RRV450 had to be used in the first free practice session, as there were still wet patches on the tarmac here and there and it was too risky to ride with slick tyres. He was also able to improve his times in the practice sessions and ended up on row 5 with a 1:37.765 on grid position 13, surrounded by BigTwins.
Florian also took part in the first free practice session for the TopTwins on Saturday afternoon. Like last year, he started on his Suzuki Gladius. With mixed training sessions, he was able to set a time of 1:43.069 and started his two races from row 6 and grid position 17.
Important points were at stake for all three drivers on Whit Monday. Due to fog, the races were postponed by around 45 minutes. Enough time for the track to dry out a little. Andy started again with his 900SSie in the Superbike class. In difficult conditions, Andy decided against rain tyres and was one of the few to start on slicks, which turned out to be the right choice. With the track drying out quickly, he was involved in exciting duels with his direct rival Thorsten Pingel. In the end, he crossed the finish line in 9th place overall and 6th place in his class.
The TopTwins started at around 10.30am. Josef was able to maintain his starting position against the BigTwins throughout the race. He finished his first race in 13th place overall and 8th place in the TopTwin. Andy also had to battle with a Ducati Monster 1100 for the entire race, but was able to fight his way past three laps before the end and secure 7th place overall and 7th place in the TopTwin. Florian had a good start, got past two opponents straight away and was able to hold his own for the next few laps. However, four laps before the end, Rainer Pape on his SV650 passed him from the slipstream. At the end of the long straight, Florian was able to brake past again. But this did not last long. On the next lap, back in the same position, Florian finally lost the place and finished the first race in 16th place overall and 10th place in the Top Twin class.
The second race in the Superbike class was no less exciting. After a few laps, a three-way battle emerged. Due to the dry track and the significantly better performance of his rivals, Andy unfortunately lost out on the long start/finish straight and finished the race in 12th place overall and 7th place in his class.
Josef, Andy and Florian started their second race at around 15:30. Andy had a great start and was already in 3rd place after the first lap, but then unfortunately lost positions lap after lap. (This was probably due to the 3 races he had already completed that day.) He still managed to finish the race in 7th place overall and 7th place in the Top Twin. For Josef, it was similar to the first race. He finished the race in 12th place overall and 8th place in the Top Twin class.
Florian's performance was also similar to the first race. Florian crossed the finish line in 16th place overall and 10th place in the Top Twin class.
After this mixed weekend, the team will continue in mid-June with the airfield race in Walldürn. From 14.06.-16.06.2024 it's back to the Odenwald for important points.
Motorsport greetings from the Fun Racing Team Calw
