After a long winter, the season of S2 European Supermoto Championship burst back into life today, at the home of motorcycling at Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain.
Blue sky and perfect temperatures greeted the riders, teams and Supermoto fans from all over the world.
In the two free practice sessions, the early pace-setter was Marc Reiner Schmidt (Degasoline TM), the German rider (in the photo) topping the timing sheets in both sessions with Mattia Martella (MTR KTM) placing second both times. Towards the end of free practice Toni Klem (TM Racing) of Finland who was third in the 2014 S2 European Championship, steadily improved to 3rd and was looking to spring a surprise in Timed Training later in the afternoon.
Marc Reiner Schmidt had a perfect day on Saturday as he was fastest in sessions on track, including the timed practice and will start from pole for the first time in his career. The German rider came home more than half-a-second clear of his rivals and is looking good for a possible victory on Sunday.
Behind him it was Yuri Guardala (Honda L30 Racing) who will start from second place, while Fabrizio Bartolini (Honda Assomotor) rounds out the front row.
Second row for Mattia Martella, Diego Monticelli and David Gimenez placing sixth. Toni Klem, who was third in S2 European championship last year could only manage 8th.
A large crowd is expected for an electric atmosphere.
S2 Qualifying top ten: Schmidt Marc-Reiner (GER-TM) +01:04.459; 2. Guardalà Yuri (ITA-HONDA) +01:05.039; 3. Bartolini Fabrizio (ITA-HONDA) +1:05.328; 4. Martella Mattia (ITA-KTM)+01:05.346; 5. Monticelli Diego (ITA_HONDA) +01:05.355; 6. Gimenez David (ESP-SUZUKI) +01:05.679; 7. Bussei Giovanni (ITA-TM) +01:05.707; 8. Klem Toni (FIN-TM) +01:05.880; 9. Fagre Kevin (SWE-HUSQVARNA) +01:06.612; 10. Llados Joan (ESP-APRILIA) +01:06.833
