Last weekend, the International German Motorcycle Championship was a guest at the Red Bull Ring in the beautiful region of Austrian Styria. Reiti and the BCC Racing Team around Team Manager Andy Gerlich were also at the 27-year-old's side. This time the Bavarian had a new BMW M 1000 RR available, which was adapted to the difficult conditions of the race track with hard braking points and tight corners during the practice days.
With unpredictable weather conditions and a strong opponent in the form of Florian Alt, Markus Reiterberger managed to qualify for second place on the grid for the first race on Sunday. Shortly after the start of the race, drizzle set in, which turned the track into a greasy soap run. All riders were on slick tyres, which turned the game into a sliding game for Reiti. Nevertheless, Reiterberger made it to the podium again with a second place.
The second race started with a great shock for the Bavarian. The electronics of his BMW M 1000 RR let him down and the machine shut down on the starting grid. Fortunately, nothing happened and after the teething problems, Reiterberger started his race to catch up with a clear focus on the top five. But Reiti lost this fight due to a brake problem and had to be satisfied with 15th place and thus the last point in the championship standings for the second race on Sunday afternoon.
For Reiterberger it goes straight from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria to the Paul Richard Circuit in Le Castellet in France, where he and the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team will complete a two-day test in preparation for the 24-hour race in two weeks time.
The IDM will meet again from September 24th to 26th at the Hockenheimring for the season finale. You can find information about the series here www.idm.de
Markus Reiterberger:
"On Friday we worked with the new BMW M 1000 RR for the first time and put it on the track. The track has some really hard braking zones, which is very difficult for us. In general, the track is great, it is also a great fit for MotoGP, but it is difficult for us. Nevertheless, we were always amongst the top three. Unfortunately, I was always only second behind Florian Alt, but he and his team really did a great job this weekend. You have to honestly admit that. In qualifying, I wasn't that far away from first place on the grid with my second grid position and we were able to take a good step. Unfortunately, in the second practice session we didn't have that much time to try out all the options. The weather conditions were unpredictable on Race-Sunday. I got off to a great start in the first race and was immediately first. Then it started to trickle and I slipped a lot on the greasy track and lost a few positions. We all rode a few laps in the drizzle on the slicks. I preferred to back off a few laps, but still stayed in the top 5. After the rain had stopped, my opponents turned it up straight away and were able to prevail in the first positions. It took me a while to get through the traffic. I found it difficult to close the gap that was created. I probably put a little too much strain on my tyres. I still rode the fastest race lap this weekend. I was able to just close the first race in second place. For the second race we changed a little bit more on the bike, especially on the electronics. Unfortunately that didn't go that well and the gas was gone at the start. As a result, I stopped because I had to restart. I was really lucky that nothing happened. I was able to catch up really well, but unfortunately I braked and hit the gravel again. The goal was then to reach at least the top five. After another electronics problem, I unfortunately only finished 15th. This is very disappointing, both for me and for the whole team. But we still have to try to take the positive with us. We have to reposition ourselves for Hockenheim. My team did a really good job this weekend and I'm very grateful for that."