ADAC NEC: Dirk Geiger and Jason Dupasquier triumph at Sachsenring

• High-point of season at GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland
• Geiger rides to comfortable victory and takes lead in Standard class
• Dupasquier secures his maiden win in GP category

Hohenstein-Ernstthal: The ADAC Northern Europe Cup (NEC) riders lined up this weekend at the Sachsenring for the fifth race of the season under the banner of the GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The riders contesting the popular series tackled 20 gruelling laps as a crowd of 200,000 watched on. Dirk Geiger (14, GER) won the Standard class, while Jason Dupasquier (14, SUI) was successful in the Grand Prix category.

The weather played an important role from Friday through to Sunday, and just after the 3.671-kilometre circuit had dried out once again on Sunday, a few drops of rain fell again shortly before the start of Sunday afternoon’s NEC race. Fortunately, the track remained dry by and large, and the rain quickly stopped. The scene was set for a thrilling battle between the young Moto3 riders in front of a fantastic crowd.

Standard class: Double triumph for Kiefer Racing Team

Geiger had already secured P1 on the grid for the fifth race of the 2016 season on Saturday and turned pole position into the race lead from the first lap onwards. The ADAC Sports Foundation protégé drew away from the field and gradually increased his lead. He won by a margin of 6.987 seconds on Toni Erhard (15, GER), his Kiefer Racing Team team-mate.

However, Erhard did not have an easy time at all during the race, as he kept trying to fight his way forwards from fourth place after the first lap and eventually overtook Philipp Freitag (19, GER) on Lap 14, who refused to let him draw away. Despite his best efforts, Freitag had to finally settle for third place with a deficit of 0.427 seconds.

With this win, Geiger is now on 85 points and takes over the championship lead in the Standard class. Matthias Meggle (15, GER), who was at the top of the standings before the weekend, crashed at the Sachsenring while racing in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, injured his arm and had to miss lining up in the ADAC NEC. However, he is still in second place overall with 81 points. Oliver König (14, CZE) on 76 points is in third place after finishing sixth on Sunday.

Dupasquier secures maiden win, Dubbink and Georgi out of the points

Dupasquier claimed victory in the Grand Prix class. The speedy Swiss rider was in second place behind fellow Standard class rider Geiger after the first two laps and was able to keep Freitag and Erhard at bay for quite a time. It was only over the last few laps that his two rivals were able to overtake. Nevertheless, Dupasquier was the overall winner of the GP category.

William Svärd (17, SWE) placed second. The Swede was lining up in the ADAC NEC for the first time this weekend and was so impressed by the professionalism of the series that he is considering more outings in the series later this season. His team-mate from Nordgren Racing Team, Johanna Innerfors (21, SWE), followed him home in third place. This was her first time on the podium at the Sachsenring.

Despite a retirement at the Sachsenring, Ernst Dubbink (27, NED) still leads the GP class with 78 points. Dupasquier is catching up after clinching his first victory and with 77 points at the season mid-point is in second place in front of Tim Georgi (16, GER), who lined up in the Moto3 world championship this weekend and is now in third place with 75 points.

Comments from the Top Three

Dirk Geiger (14, GER), Winner, ADAC NEC Standard:
“My start was excellent. I tried to push from the very beginning. That went very well. I was able to post strong times from the first lap onwards. I tried to increase my lead during the race. I focused on continually reducing my lap times and on not falling. I normally don’t find that too difficult. In the end, I just wanted to maintain my lead. Of course, it was also great that I finished ahead of the GP riders. I’m really pleased with my maiden victory. Many thanks to my team, my sponsors and everyone who has supported me. Winning here at the Sachsenring under the banner of the MotoGP with the whole team watching on is very special.”

Toni Erhard (15, GER), Second, ADAC NEC Standard:
“My race was really great. I made a good start, definitely. However, I had some problems initially, because I couldn’t get past a couple of riders in front of me. I posted similar lap times to Philip and stayed with him until the end of the race. I then tried to make it hammer time once again and pull away from him over the final laps. That went pretty well. I was even able to overtake Jason. I’m super happy at being able to finish second in my home race at the Sachsenring under the banner of the MotoGP. What a great result! I hope I can continue in the same vein in future races.”

Philipp Freitag (19, GER), Third, ADAC NEC Standard:
“My grid position was not great. My start, though, was excellent, and I was second to begin with. Jason was between Dirk and me, and because I couldn’t pass him, Dirk was able to pull away in front. I was posting similar lap times to him half-way through the race, because the gap between us remained constant for quite a long time. I rode close behind Jason for ages and tried to at least defend second place in the Standard class, but then, Toni overtook me and increased his speed again. It was not until later that I was able to make ground, but unfortunately, that was exactly one lap too late, because once I was finally back in Toni’s slipstream, we were already on the final lap. I’m satisfied all in all. A podium at the Sachsenring is a decent result.”

Jason Dupasquier (14, SUI), Winner, ADAC NEC GP:
“My start was good initially and I was lying in second place. I tried to stick with Dirk, but he was a bit faster than me, so I lost the connection. I then rode on my own for quite a time and felt relatively okay. I turned around after that and suddenly saw Toni and Philipp behind me. Toni went past me, followed by Philipp as well. Still, that was relatively unimportant to me, as the two are Standard class riders. I secured my maiden victory in the Grand Prix class, and that’s just great. I’m very pleased that I did it within the context of MotoGP at the Sachsenring.”

William Svärd (17, SWE), Second, ADAC NEC GP:
“This was my first race at the Sachsenring, and I’ve only practised here once prior to that. It’s quite different to the Swedish championship that I usually contest. It was really great to ride on a proper grand prix circuit. I hope that I can contest more races in the ADAC Northern Europe Cup this season. I currently lead the Swedish championship. The experience here will really help me with that.”

Johanna Innerfors (21, SWE), Third, ADAC NEC GP:
“I made an excellent start but ran wide in the first corner, so a few riders passed me. I was then more or less on my own in the race. I was able to post really good lap times once again towards the end of the race and improve, which was great. The race was good overall. I’m very pleased to finish on the podium for the very first time at the Sachsenring under the banner of the MotoGP.”