For Markus Reiterberger, this weekend in Schleiz and his return to the International German Motorcycle Championship was another nice memory of the nature race track in Schleiz. The Bavarian has already had many successes in the past and is even twice on the list of lap records on the Schleizer Dreieck from his previous time in the IDM. With Andy Gerlich's BCC Racing Team, the BMW S 1000 RR and the support of his manager Werner Daemen, the return to the series was a huge success.
Reiterberger dominated the times all weekend from the first free practice and took pole position for race one on Saturday. The first race was like a thriller and he led it confidently up to the penultimate lap. But then his former team-mate and current Endurance World Championship team-mate Ilya Mikhalchik passed him and snatched the victory away from him. With second place in the first race, Reiti started from position eight for the second race with the reversed grid that is common in the IDM. After just a few laps, the 27-year-old took the lead and kept it until the finish line. The grandstands, which were filled to the brim for the first time this weekend, cheered for the tracks favorite as he crossed the finish line in first place. With the two results for the BCC Racing Team, Reiti is already in tenth place in the championship standings.
Unfortunately, he will not be able to take part in the next race in Assen because he is doing an Endurance test. The 27-year-old will be competing for BCC Racing again in the last two events of the season in Spielberg and at the Hockenheimring.
Markus Reiterberger:
“Schleiz was, as always, an amazing weekend. That was my first sprint race in the German championship since 2017. It was the first time I started with the model overhaul from BMW. This is the predecessor model of the BMW S 1000 RR. That was also my first outing with BCC Racing. We got off to a really good start on Friday when I sat on the bike for the first time, even though it wasn't exactly easy for me. We already had a really good bike for qualifying on Saturday, but we never stopped working because we knew that both Ilya (Mikhalchik) and Flo (Florian Alt) would be strong. It didn't really work out in the first race, and we didn't have the best tyre choice either. Ilya rode a great race, studied me the whole time and then overtook me. We made a very small change to the bike before the second race and chose a different tyre and the decision was good. I had a few worries about the reverse grid because Flo was on pole position and had really good pace. But it was my turn on lap two and I was able to pull out a lead. For the last couple of laps I crossed the finish line comfortably and took victory with me. That was a mega awesome weekend and I would like to thank everyone who made it possible for me, BCC Racing, my manager Werner and everyone who made me feel so comfortable and home. The atmosphere here was again unbelievable and it was just a great weekend. "
Comments