Markus Reiterberger (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW) made his full-time return to the European Superstock 1000 Championship at MotorLand Aragon. The weekend could not have gone better for the German, as he strolled to pole on Saturday and put on a convincing display the next day, securing the first win of the STK1000 season.

The race wasn’t that straightforward however, with Reiterberger challenged right from the start. “Today the race was quite heavy, my start was not so bad but then in the few laps I could not go away, the others were all in my back and pushed me a lot”, he says. “After Sandi and Scheib passed me I tried to push more, but then three times I lost the front.”

Reiterberger however managed to stay focused and ended up taking back his first place from the Aprilia and Ducati riders: “I kept calm a little bit, and in the end I felt a little better with the used tyre than the others, and kept a small gap until the end. I’m really happy to win the race”.

The German now goes into Assen as the first leader of the STK1000 season. At the legendary Dutch circuit, Reiterberger managed a best of fourth-place through four races in STK1000, as well as a 7^th and 16^th in his two races on a WorldSBK bike.

STK1000 moves to TT Assen next Sunday with race 2 of the season, with all the highlights and live coverage available thanks to the WorldSBK VideoPass.