After performing that greatly in Superpole on Saturday morning, Jonas Folger was able to hold sixth place for a long time in the first race until a crash intervened a few laps before the end. Thus, the best race performance so far this year remained unrewarded.
After a short summer break, Jonas Folger and his Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance team returned in style at this weekend’s fifth meeting of the season in the Netherlands. After an already extremely positive first day of practice on Friday, the 27-year-old German rider was able to further increase his level of performance on Saturday. During this morning’s free practice three, he already was 0.365 seconds faster than on the previous day and he then climbed into the top ten.
In Superpole session later this morning, Folger once again made the most of his good track knowledge in the “Cathedral of Speed” and once again he lowered his personal fastest lap time by 0.642 seconds, in doing so securing sixth place and a spot in the second row of the starting grid for the first race of the weekend. In this race itself, he was initially able to defend his starting position for a long time and set a personal fastest race lap shortly before half-time. In the closing stages, however, he had to relinquish one position, but continued to fight bravely for seventh place until, unfortunately, he lost control of his race machine on lap 19 and went down heavily.
After initial checks at the medical centre, fortunately no serious injuries were detected although to be safe, Folger was nevertheless taken to the hospital in Assen. There, too, further examinations revealed no fractures or anything else. Folger was discharged on Saturday evening. Nevertheless, a decision on his further participation at the Dutch round will not be made until Sunday morning.
#94 Jonas FOLGER (Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance, BMW M 1000 RR)
Grid position 6 / Race 1: NC
“Until the crash in the race, we can be very satisfied with today. In the morning we already managed a good improvement compared to yesterday’s practice sessions and P6 in Superpole made the grow of joy even more. I was able to stay in this position for a very long time in the race. So, I am mega-happy about this improvement in terms of performance. I am really glad about and it is really nice to see that we have the speed again. Nevertheless, it is a shame that the race ended so stupidly. But I have to be happy that I am okay after this violent crash, apart from some bruises and headaches, and that nothing worse happened. Nevertheless, I would like to thank my team for their work and also BMW for their support. But now it is a matter of recovering in the best possible way this night so that I can hopefully ride again tomorrow.”
#NLDWorldSBK - Superpole:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´33.842
2 Toprak RAZGATGLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´34.028 +0.186
3 Scott REDDING / GBR / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R / 1´34.053 +0.211
6 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Bonovo Action MGM Racing Performance / BMW M 1000 RR / 1´34.336 +0.494
#NLDWorldSBK - Race 1 Classification after 19 Laps:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 30´48.682
2 Scott REDDING / GBR / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R / +3.312
3 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1 Sector
NC #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Bonovo Action MGM Racing Performance / BMW M 1000 RR
#WorldSBK Standing:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki / 206
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Yamaha / 199
3 Scott REDDING / GBR / Ducati / 137
19 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / BMW / 8
#NLDWorldSBK – Time Schedule for Sunday July 25th (CET):
09:00 - 09:15 Warm-Up
11:00 Superpole-Race (10 Laps - 45.420 km)
14:00 Race 2 (21 Laps - 95.382 km)
