Second half of 2016 ADAC Northern Europe Cup gets underway with Jespersen and Dubbink as pole-sitters

• Simon Jespersen secures pole position at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
• Ernst Dubbink sets fastest lap in GP class
• Matthias Meggle and Kevin Orgis start from front row

Oschersleben: The ADAC Northern Europe Cup (NEC) returns this weekend after the summer break for the second half of the season. The fifth of the seven race weekends of the 2016 campaign, held in the context of the Endurance World Championships, got underway at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. The riders who coped best with the exceptionally warm conditions were Simon Jespersen (15, DEN) and Ernst Dubbink (27, NED) in the Standard and GP classifications respectively.

Jespersen sets the benchmark

In the Standard class, Jespersen was dominant in both qualifying sessions. The 15-year-old Dane posted a lap of 01:34.598 minutes in the second timed practice to secure pole position. ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Matthias Meggle (16, GER), who was 0.526 seconds slower than Jespersen, joins him on the front row for both of Sunday’s races. Alongside will be Kevin Orgis (16, GER) who was third fastest in qualifying.

Sander Kroeze (14, NED) set the fourth fastest lap of the Standard riders; Dirk Geiger (14, GER) was fifth fastest and consequently starts from Row 2. The ADAC Sports Foundation protégé currently leads the Standard class with 85 points. Behind him in second place at the halfway point in the campaign is Meggle on 81 points.

Dubbink fast but not totally satisfied

Going quickest In the Grand Prix class was Dubbink with a lap of 01:35.356 minutes. This put the experienced Dutch rider fifth overall and places him on the second row of the grid. His closest rivals in the overall ranking, Tim Georgi (16, GER) and Jason Dupasquier (14, SUI), are absent from the fray this weekend: Georgi, yet another ADAC Sports Foundation protégé, is contesting the Junior World Championship this weekend, while Dupasquier is recovering from injury.

Guest starter Jerry van de Bunt (24, NED) secured the second GP grid position behind Dubbink. Maximilian Kofler (16, AUT), who is currently fifth in the standings and has a great opportunity to close the gap this weekend, qualified third in the GP class.

On Sunday, the ADAC NEC contestants will be competing in two races over 17 demanding laps. The first starts at 10:30 and the second at 14:50 CEST.

Comments from the lead riders

Simon Jespersen (15, DEN), fastest, ADAC NEC Standard:
“That went pretty well. I set about qualifying in a calm frame of mind and didn’t look at the lap times of the other riders. I feel really good on my bike. I like this track a lot and have often competed here. As recently as the last race weekend at Sachsenring, we stopped off on the way to do some practice runs and gain further experience of the track. My suspension wasn’t all that good at the beginning of the year, but we’ve managed to solve that during the break. Now the bike is running really well. It’s really hot this weekend. Because I was injured earlier this season, I’m not in peak condition, but even so I’m hoping that I can maintain my fast pace in tomorrow’s race and finish on the podium.”

Ernst Dubbink (27, NED), fastest, ADAC NEC GP:
“It’s really hot here at Oschersleben this weekend. Yesterday around midday, the thermometer was up to 35 degrees, and it was the same for this first qualifying. The second qualifying session today was fortunately a held little earlier, so the air and track temperatures were a bit cooler. I was able to improve my lap time under these conditions. For me personally, though, that wasn’t enough. I managed to secure the GP pole, but I wasn’t the fastest overall. So I’m not very happy about my own performance. I haven’t ridden my bike in quite a while, so it was hard to find my rhythm. Also, we’ve been experimenting on the suspension, which didn’t work quite as well as we had hoped. But tomorrow is really all about points. I’ll be trying to get away quickly at the start of both races and hoping that I can improve further on my lap times.”