They’re back in Schleiz: Jan-Ole Jähnig and Maximilian Kappler of the Freudenberg WorldSSP Team. Since they only compete sporadically in the IDM Superstock 300 due to scheduling conflicts with their World Championship commitments, they aren’t title contenders, but the two KTM riders are considered the benchmark for the competition. But their rivals aren’t resting on their laurels. Although Jähnig and Kappler stood on the podium at the season opener in Oschersleben, only Kappler managed to secure a victory.
But Jähnig left his teammates in the Supersport 300 World Championship in the dust. The Thuringian even led the final race at Misano—despite starting from 21st on the grid. “I was still leading the pack in the penultimate lap,” reports the 17-year-old, “but in the last lap I dropped back to third place. Then the pack came up from behind and I crossed the finish line in eighth.” Jähnig was a little disappointed, “but it was an awesome race.” Jähnig has collected 38 championship points so far, while Kappler has five.
At the Sachsenring Grand Prix a week ago, Jähnig and Kappler competed as guests in the ADAC Junior Cup powered by KTM—without scoring points, of course. IDM riders like Toni Erhard also took advantage of the opportunity offered by the ADAC to put in some extra laps in this series. With a commanding six-second lead over the top Junior Cup rider, Jähnig secured pole position. However, Erhard won the race. Jähnig had only himself to blame: “On the last lap, I ran into Toni’s rear and lost momentum and ground as a result.”
What’s happening at the Schleizer Dreieck? The IDM riders want to beat the World Championship guys. The World Championship riders, for their part, want to show who’s really in charge. Jähnig, at least, has already achieved one thing: the current Supersport 300 World Championship rider won the IDM title in that class in 2017. And no one has managed to do that yet.