Bastien Mackels can really savor this victory for the Wilbers-BMW team. Looking at the podium from the first IDM Superbike race of the 2018 season, team boss Benny Wilbers got carried away with joy and decided to treat his rider to a truly amazing car—at least for one weekend. It looks like an extremely sporty BMW. What makes this special: In Belgium, where Mackels lives, a luxury tax must be paid on such vehicles, which means private ownership of them in the country is strictly limited.
Winner Mackels made no mistakes during the race. His best move was his blistering start, which immediately put him ahead of pole-sitter Ilya Mikhalchik of the alpha Racing-Van Zon BMW Team. Running side by side at the front, Mackels and the Ukrainian gave each other no quarter. They passed through the first sector at the same time. However, the race could have turned out differently for winner Mackels. When Mikhalchik launched his final sprint, he was a mere 0.248 seconds behind Mackels. At the Double S, the Ukrainian even took the lead before Mackels squeezed back inside just before the start-finish line. It was a fierce battle with two close calls. In the end, Mackels won by an arm’s length.
For Mikhalchik, who was unfamiliar with the track and had never ridden on slicks before, second place was a great debut. The 21-year-old IDM newcomer admitted: “The track also takes a lot out of you physically.”
Jan Halbich’s third-place finish was a relief for Honda. “The new electronics are taking us a significant step forward. We’re still in the learning phase, but things are getting better and better,” says his HRP team boss, Jens Holzhauer. The team had used the first qualifying session as a practice run to test a shock absorber and improve the setup. In the second qualifying session, Halbich then blasted his way onto the front row of the grid.
The group behind Halbich began to spread out somewhat in the final third of the race. Danny de Boer, Yamaha MGM’s star rider, had to settle for fifth place. He had been hoping for a spot in the top 3. Toni Finsterbusch brought home the best-placed Suzuki in seventh place. He had been running further up the pack early on, but by the middle of the race, tire wear took its toll. There were no points for Kawasaki. Lucy Glöckner was rear-ended, and a piece of plastic became lodged in her motorcycle. The rider from Saxony had to pit and returned to the field one lap down.
This is amazing: Bastien Mackels' victory has the Wilbers-BMW team in a euphoric mood.
Text: Anke Wieczorek, Photo: Dino Eisele