Race report Hockenheim 2022

The long-awaited season opener at the Hockenheimring was scheduled for the end of May. Josef, Rolf, Walter, Flo, Felix and Andy had also prepared their Ducatis for the races. After his serious crash in Rijeka, which left him wearing a plaster cast on his left leg, this came as a surprise.

At the track day on Thursday, all riders had the opportunity to test the package of rider and machine. Unfortunately, for Rolf and Andy the weekend ended sooner than expected. Rolf's Ducati kept misfiring and the cause could not be found over the next few days. Andy's left knee continued to cause problems, so that he could not start without pain.

For the four remaining riders, Thursday was (still) free of problems and crashes. Walter and Josef did well on the Italo front with the MV Agusta F3, the Aprilia RGV 250 and Josef's "new" RRV 450. Flo (Yamaha SR 500) and Felix (Yamaha R6), as riders of Japanese makes, also felt comfortable on their machines after the long winter.

So everything was ready for the qualifying sessions on Friday. Here Walter placed 12th for the regularity tests with a reference time of 1:55.570. After Josef's RGV engine seized up on Friday, he was "only" able to qualify for the races in one class. With the RRV 450, a lap time of 1:51.241 was enough for 20th place on the grid in a starting field of 29 drivers. 

Flo set his best qualifying time of 2:00.170 in the first qualifying and was therefore allowed to start from 15th place. For Felix, qualifying ended in 8th place with a lap time of 1:43.434.

The first races were on the agenda for Walter - with 836 (penalty) points, it was enough for him to finish 14th in his class. Like Walter, Felix also started his first race of the year on Saturday evening. He finished in 7th place. Josef contested the last race on Saturday evening in the Top Twins. He gained three places and finished 17th. For Flo it started on Sunday morning in wet track conditions. He finished the first race in a strong 10th place. After the sidecars had spread a lot of dirt on the track, Felix had his second race. He also finished in 7th place. In the Top Twins, Josef was able to finish in the top 15 in the second race and took 14th place. Unfortunately, Flo's second race ended early due to a technical defect.