The four-time IDM Superbike Champion was probably the busiest signer of autographs at the IDM finale at the Hockenheimring. However, BMW driver Markus Reiterberger still leaves questions about his future unanswered.
Markus Reiterberger had traveled directly from the final of the Endurance World Championship in Le Castellet to Baden to round off his successful season, in which he had already won his fourth title at the race in Assen.
The first race at the Hockenheimring started for the Bavarian with starting position 2 from the first row of the grid. However, like the entire field on rain tires. To celebrate the day, he treated himself to a flawless start-to-finish victory on the increasingly drying ideal line. From the start, the IDM champion set the tone and dominated the race from the front without coming under pressure from the competition. “In the warm-up I think it was the first time this year in the wet,” reflects Reiterberger after his victory. “I didn’t feel quite so comfortable there because I had a little slippage on the rear wheel. For the race, my team fitted me with a different spring at the back and I felt comfortable right from the start. When it dried, I had a little trouble with the grip. But by then I was so far ahead that I knew I just had to bring it home. So thank you to the team for the great bike, once again.”
The second run in the afternoon, this time in dry conditions and occasional drizzle, started in reverse order, which meant 9th place on the grid for Reiterberger. Already after the first corners, a respectable duel developed with long-time rival, runner-up and BMW brand colleague Florian Alt, which was rewarded with applause from the fully occupied ranks in the Motodrom «I had a great start and was able to catch up with Flo right away in the first corner. In the first few laps I was even faster than him. Until the rain came, it was a knife edge ride. I studied him a bit and saw that he has the same problems as probably all of us. I then decided to overtake him, I just wanted to try it. In the end it was completely dry again and he simply had better pace. I had a bit of a grip problem at the back and Florian was simply faster and then crossed the finish line first. Thanks everyone, it was great as always.”
As nice as the successes at the final of the 2022 IDM season were, at the end of the day thoughts go to the Langstädtler family and the F73 Academy/Werk2 by MCA team. Leon Langstädtler lost his life in a tragic training accident on Friday, September 23, 2022. “There are no right words,” explained team boss Werner Daemen. “But I would like to express our deepest condolences to Leon’s family, team and friends on behalf of the BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW team.”