This weekend, the penultimate event on the IDM calendar 2021 took place on the beautiful Red Bull Ring in Styria, Austria. It was the first visit of the International German Motorcycle Championship since 2014 in Spielberg. Thick clouds and inconsistent weather, with the constant change between dry and wet, did not let the riders of the EGS-alpha-Van Zon-BMW team relax this weekend.

 

With a little more practice time on Friday, Ilya Mikhalchik (UKR), Jan Mohr (AUT), Pepijn Bijsterbosch (NED) and Tim Eby (GER) started the penultimate event of this season. Mikhalchik, for whom the visit to the track was the first time, had a little crash in the rain-soaked qualifying on Saturday and was only able to qualify for fourth place on the grid for the first race. The Ukrainian nonetheless finished both races on the podium, with a third place in race one and a second place in race two.

 

Jan Mohr, whose long-awaited home race was the event at the Red Bull Ring, got his best race result of the season so far with eighth place in the second race after starting the first race from 14th position and due to the lack of confidence due to the weather finished 18th then on his bike on the slippery racetrack.

 

For the Dutchman Pepijn Bijsterbosch, the weekend did not go optimally, but it was better than his own home race two weeks ago in Assen in the Netherlands. There he was haunted by bad luck, which he was able to make up for this weekend with places eleven and twelve. It was disappointing for the 31-year-old that he messed up in race one, which cost him important points. In the second race it was the brakes that prevented him from achieving a better position. From a technical point of view, the weekend was still a success, as the BMW M 1000 RR felt much better than at the previous event.

 

It has definitely paid off for the German Tim Eby that he had a private test on the Austrian track a few weeks ago. He was able to set consistently fast lap times and moved significantly further ahead than in previous events, always close to the points-positions. He is satisfied with his weekend and hopes to be able to take the motivation with him to the last IDM event.

 

On the last weekend in September, from 24th to 26th the last event of the series at the Hockenheimring will decide who will be German champion 2021. The chances are good for EGS-alpha-Van Zon-BMW rider Ilya Mikhalchik to secure the title for the third time. But it remains to be seen what his title opponents can offer on the racetrack in Hockenheim. All information about the series, the results and the current standings can be found on the website www.idm.de.
Ilya Mikhalchik, #37:

“Of course I am happy. We did a great job this weekend, especially from Saturday to Sunday. I had a few problems during qualifying and also crashed, which is very unusual for me. But even with that we were well prepared and I was in a good group and was able to fight for victory. I am very happy with the work done this weekend. I’m leading the championship and I’m looking forward to the last two races of the season at the Hockenheimring.”
Jan Mohr, #5:

“My race Sunday was pretty turbulent. The first race was more like a disaster. It was raining, but not really, and that made it quite slippery on the track and that made me a little insecure. I was way too careful and fell back to 20th place. In the end, however, I was able to make up two places and finished in 18th. In the second race it was dry and I had a great start. After the first few laps, I was already from 14th on the grid to eighth. I wanted to overtake Bastien Mackels, but in the end the tyre lost performance and I had to be content with eighth place. That was my best result of the season so far and at my home race. It feels really fantastic right now.”
Pepijn Bijsterbosch, #55:

“The first race went pretty well. I got off to a good start. Unfortunately, I then wired myself up in the slow uphill area and lost a few places. The rain was nothing in half or whole and that was kind of strange. The bike felt pretty good in the first race though, so it wasn’t that bad. But I had thought that we could catch up a little more to the top. I’m a little disappointed with the second race. At the beginning I had a few problems with the brakes and that gnawed at my confidence and I couldn’t find a good rhythm. That gave me quite a problem in race two. Overall, however, I have to say that the bike worked a lot better this weekend than it did in Assen and from this point of view it was a good weekend, even if I am rather disappointed with the second race.”
Tim Eby, #17:

“The first race was unfortunately very disappointing. It started to rain on the first lap and I didn’t know how good the grip was or how much you could push and I was very insecure and made a few mistakes. The pace then got better and better and I was able to overtake a few opponents. Unfortunately, when I braked into a bend, I got out of gear and had to dodge into the gravel and head back via the escape routes. I lost more than a second and was only able to finish the race in the penultimate position. I got off to a very good start in the second race and was able to really hold out. Up to the penultimate lap I was in 16th place. Unfortunately, I had to give up three positions again, luckily only to the guest starters. I then finished the race in 19th place. But I am very happy with the weekend. There were a total of 32 starters and I was much further ahead than usual. I hope that I can take this motivation with me to Hockenheim. Let’s see what else is going on.”
Werner Daemen, Team Manager:

“The weekend went very well. I’m very satisfied. In the first race Ilya finished on the podium, which is very good for the championship. Tim, Jan and Pepijn all rode very well. Tim was near the points the whole time. Ilya came second behind Florian Alt, who was undoubtedly the best this weekend. The title is within reach. It is now definitely possible to win the championship a third time with Ilya and that is clearly our focus and our goal. Markus (Reiterberger) in the satellite team also did a very good job this weekend with second place in the first race.”