Markus Reiterberger ended the 2022 IDM season with his fourth German championship title (2013, 2015, 2017 and 2022) and with 12 of the 14 possible victories in the IDM Superbike class. After a very tragic opening day on Friday, September 23rd, when Superbike colleague Leon Langstädtler had a fatal accident in the second free practice session at the Hockenheimring, it was very quiet in the IDM paddock. Thoughts were with the family and friends of the 24-year-old. The start of the first qualifying was not easy for the riders of the series. Reiti had a very good first qualifying session. The battle with Florian Alt kept the tension. A few minor chattering problems prevented him from securing himself the pole position, but second place on the grid provided a good starting position for the first race on Sunday.
Reiti started the first race, which was declared wet, on Sunday with a rocket start. After just three laps, Reiterberger had built up a comfortable lead over the chasing group behind him. The BMW M 1000 RR felt perfect and after the wet warm-up, during which the 28-year-old didn't feel so comfortable and a few adjustments by his team, there was nothing more to complain about on the bike in the first race. Victory was certain for the Bavarian.
Reiti also started the second race very well from ninth place on the reverse grid and quickly caught up with Florian Alt. At the beginning of the second race it was still drizzling, but the track dried during the race and the rear grip decreased. Reiti had to settle for second place. Alt finished 1.111 seconds ahead of him. Markus Reiterberger ends the 2022 IDM season as International German Champion with a lead of 124 points over Florian Alt.
Markus Reiterberger: "First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Leon Langstädtler. It's always very sad when something like this happens and there's not much to say about it, except that I wish everyone a lot of strength.
As for the sporting part of our weekend, I can only thank my team again for the great job they did. In the first race I had a perfect bike again and with the great start I was able to pull away quickly. However, the weather conditions were not ideal. We haven't had that much rain during this year and the ride was more of a knife edge ride. As the track dried during the second race, rear grip decreased. I had to take quite a risk. Flo really gave it his all and secured victory in the end. I already had the title in my pocket since Assen. I am very proud that we did it again and for the first time a rider in the IDM has been crowned champion four times and I want to thank my team and everyone who has supported me on this way."
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