ADAC Northern Europe Cup: Jespersen and Dupasquier secure best starting places at the Hockenheimring

• Penultimate race weekend of the ADAC NEC promises to be an exciting one
• Simon Jespersen secures top spot in Standard Class
• GP Class: Jason Dupasquier claims pole position

Hockenheim: Weather conditions at the Hockenheimring this weekend were perfect for the riders of the ADAC Northern Europe Cup as the sixth of seven race weekends in the 2016 season got underway. In two exciting qualifying sessions, Simon Jespersen (15, DEN) and Jason Dupasquier (15, SUI) secured the best places at the starting gate in the Standard and GP classes of this popular racing series.

Jespersen set the pace in the Standard class with a fastest lap of 01:36.006 minutes. The Danish rider clocked his fastest time in the first qualifying session before slipping away towards the end and having to miss out on the second part. Despite this, his lap time was fast enough for pole position in the Standard class. Jespersen will be all right to compete in Sunday’s race.

Oliver König (14, CZE) took second place, only 0.096 seconds slower than the pole-setter. ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Dirk Geiger (14, GER) just managed to post his best lap in the closing seconds of the second session to nail down P3 in the Standard class. His Kiefer Racing team-mates Toni Erhard (15, GER) and Leon Orgis (15, GER) line up in fourth and fifth positions respectively.

In the GP class, Jason Dupasquier (15, SUI) already succeeded in setting a best time of 01:35.085 minutes during the first qualifying session in the morning to book pole position for himself. Tim Georgi (16, GER) improved his own time in the afternoon but was still 0.200 seconds slower than the pole-setter. The ADAC Sports Foundation protégé consequently starts from P2.

Jan-Ole Jähnig (15, GER) is making a debut appearance in the ADAC Northern Europe Cup this weekend whilst fighting a parallel campaign to win the title in the ADAC Junior Cup powered by KTM. He competed only in the first qualifying session so that he could focus on the final race in that series later on in the day. Nevertheless, he still managed to secure third place in the GP category with a lap time of 01:36.088 minutes.

The eighth of ten races in the 2016 ADAC NEC will be contested on Sunday 25th September at 13:45 CEST and takes place over a distance of 16 laps.

Comments from the top qualifiers

Oliver König (14, CZE), second fastest, ADAC NEC Standard:
“That was a great day from my perspective. However, I’m not satisfied with the gap between my time and the time set by Jason for pole position in the GP class. Even so, I’m very happy because, after Silverstone, I’ve had some difficult races and this second place is very positive for me. Ahead of the race weekend, I was training on the Slovakia Ring. I’m here at Hockenheim this weekend for the first time. The track is very good for me, because it can be taken at high speed and there are also some very fine corners. The tarmac is a bit uneven, but that doesn’t bother me. I hope that we manage to finish on the podium again in tomorrow’s race.”

Jason Dupasquier (15, SUI), fastest, ADAC NEC GP:
“I like this track here a lot. I broke my collarbone at the Red Bull Ring and haven’t ridden since. Yesterday at the Hockenheimring was my first time back on the bike. It went well from the start. I set the fastest lap time as early as the first qualifying session. In the second qualifying, I unfortunately made a mistake, but I still managed to hold on to pole position. I hope that I get off to a good start in tomorrow’s race. If Tim is faster, I’ll try to stay in touch as long as possible. I think that’s a good strategy.”