By The newest announced 2026 ESR (European Series Road Racing) participant, is none other than ‘King of Imatra’ Erno Kostamo (EKE #38 – BMW).
34 years old, originally from Kitee, citizen of Joensuu, he is the fastest Finnish TT, Northwest 200, Southern 100, Armoy, Macau Grand Prix exponent.
2022 Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix winner (P3 in last November’s race), he’s a thirteen times IRRC Superbike race winner (last year, SBK X2 winner at Imatranajo and Frohburger Dreieck.
Furthermore, his increasingly impressive roads scene portfolio since making his pure road racing debut at Imatra in 2016, features:
• Fourteen consecutive Imatranajo SBK wins
• Overall Imatranajo lap-record holder – 1.48.743
• Overall, Horice lap-record holder – 2.11.416
• Overall Frohburger Dreieck lap-record holder – 1.32.946
• Unofficial record Imatranajo, Horice lap-times from qualifying stints in 2025
Just for reminder, the European Series Road Racing entry process, is officially underway.
ESR 2026 Superbike provisional start-list update, containing now fifteen riders of twelve nations astride five marques of motorcycles (BMW x6, Yamaha x5, Honda x2, Aprilia x1, Kawasaki x1), reads as follows:
(Nation, title sponsor, marque located near racer’s name)
Vassilios Takos (Greece) – Vassilios Takos Racing (Yamaha)
Pontus Rostlinger (Sweden) – Rostlinger Racing 8 (Honda)
Lukas Maurer (Switzerland) – Maurer-Racing (Yamaha)
Rene Mlkvy (Slovakia) – ZD Motorsport (Aprilia)
Amalric Blanc (France) – Never Be Clever Racing (Yamaha)
Erno Kostamo (Finland) – EKE #38 (BMW)
Jakub Sprojcar (Czech Republic) – TT Race-4 PRO (Yamaha)
Rob Van Eijs (Netherlands) – Van Eijs Technical Support (Honda)
David Brook (England) – DB Suspension Brooksuspension.com (BMW)
Stephane Bednarek (France) – F.R.T (Yamaha)
Emil Krchnavy (Slovakia) – KRS Racing (Kawasaki)
Christoph Kreller (Germany) – KRC Racing Crew (BMW)
Laurent Hoffmann (Belgium) – Team Hoffmann by MRP (BMW)
Fedrik Matthys (Belgium) – Team Hoffmann by MRP (BMW)
Florian Astner (Austria) – F.ASTner Racing Team (BMW)
Photo credit: Jan Vavra
Words by Jan Vavra
