Hannes Soomer will return to FIM Endurance World Championship race action in Spa this week fresh from preserving his lead in the Superbike section of the Internationalen Deutschen Meisterschaft.
The Estonian finished fourth in both races at Schleizer Dreieck last weekend to head the standings for the Werner Daemen’s Masteroil-alpha-Van Zon-BMW team by a single point.
And Soomer will continue to rely on BMW power when he makes his debut at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps this week.
He’s swapping his reserve rider duties for Formula EWC squad BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team by racing for Dunlop-equipped Superstock outfit Champion-MRP-Tecmas, which is making its first EWC start of the season in the 8 Hours of Spa Motos from 6-7 June.
Soomer said: “It’s nice to be part of a factory team with BMW but it’s also really, really important to get endurance racing experience. From last year I have experience from Suzuka, Le Castellet and Le Mans so to race in Spa as well this year is really, really good.
“I’ve only heard good things about Spa from riders and Werner (Daemen) told me every time he goes on this track he smiles from pit exit until he comes back in. It looks brilliant from TV and the onboards so I am really looking forward.”
Soomer will join forces with Jan Bühn from Germany and Leandro Mercado from Argentina at Champion-MRP-Tecmas, an alliance between Daemen’s MRP operation and Arnaud Sassone’s Temcas outfit. Despite his unfamiliarity with the Belgian venue, the 27-year-old Soomer has high hopes.
“We aim to win for sure but it won’t be easy,” said Soomer. “Werner knows how to win at Spa as a team boss. The BMW works really good and also the Superstock bike in Spa has good top speed and the BMWs were good in the pits last year.”
Tickets remain on sale for the ever-spectacular Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps event with more information available HERE.
Photo: Masteroil-alpha-Van Zon-BMW
Original Source [ FIM EWC ]
