At the grand finale in Hockenheim, the winners of the International German Motorcycle Championship (IDM) were crowned in four classes. At the same time, Motor Presse Stuttgart, the series promoter, has already announced the preliminary race dates for the upcoming season.
Germany's premier motorcycle road racing series has gained momentum and is back on track for success. The thrilling races and a varied supporting program attracted a total of 10 percent more spectators to the racetracks than in the previous year. In Hockenheim alone, over 13,000 fans watched the races in four IDM premier classes and three cups under sunny skies. They brought the Motodrom to its feet.
They celebrated with a standing ovation Ilya Mikhalchik, the new champion in the IDM Superbike 1000. In this top class of German road motorcycle racing, highly tuned motorcycles from the brands BMW, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha finished. The Ukrainian had already secured his lead in the overall standings in the first of the two races, definitively beating his only remaining rival, Bastien Mackels of Belgium. With their winning streak, the two BMW-riders dominated the season. In the final race, 22-year-old Mikhalchik swept the fans along with his joy, treating them to a burnout in front of the packed grandstands at the Sachs Curve and riding through the Motodrom in Baden, standing upright on the footrests of his motorcycle and cheering.
In the IDM Supersport 600 was Max Enderlein on Yamaha the big winner in a dramatic race. The Saxon had been unable to race at the penultimate round in Assen, Netherlands, due to a broken collarbone. As a result, his points lead in the overall standings had shrunk to twelve points. But in the decisive race, Enderlein capitalized on his opponents’ misfortune. They crashed out of the race within the first three laps. Enderlein thus needed only the 16 points for third place to secure the title. In the Superstock 600 Cup, which is contested in the same field but scored separately, another Yamaha rider, Marco Fetz, also dominated. Compared to the IDM Supersport 600 motorcycles, even fewer modifications are allowed on the Cup machines.
The KTM-Pilot Toni Erhard is the new champion in the IDM Supersport 300. With his second-place finish in the season finale at the Hockenheimring, the 17-year-old high school graduate from Schwarzenberg-Pöhla clinched the overall title in the IDM junior class. “I never doubted during the race that I would win the title. I was always right there in the leading group,” he reported. In total, Erhard secured ten podium finishes during the 2018 season.
The title holders in the IDM Sidecar mean Josef Sattler and Uwe Neubert. The Bavarian-Saxon duo had already arrived at the finals with a substantial points lead, but Sattler was suffering from a flu-like illness. He was glad to have already sealed the deal with a second-place finish in Saturday’s race. Sattler will be racing next year with the Adolf RS1 F1 BMW-team in the Sidecar World Championship.
Two supporting races, public press conferences, autograph sessions, test rides on motorcycles from manufacturers participating in the IDM, and the race party made the 2018 finale a non-stop spectacle. And it continues: The series will return in 2019, as confirmed by Motor Presse Stuttgart, the series promoter. However, without financial support, the wheels won’t turn. The six IDM pool partners— BMW, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki, and Yamaha—remain on board, as do the strong IDM sponsors, forming the backbone of the series. Pirelli remains the series’ exclusive tire supplier and will provide new tire types for all IDM solo classes in 2019.
For the first time in a long while, the race dates for the upcoming season have already been confirmed during the current season finale. The new season will kick off at the Lausitzring from May 17 to 19, 2019. The finale will be held from September 27 to 29, 2019, as is tradition, at the Hockenheimring. Other venues include the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Circuit Zolder, Autodrom Most, the Nürburgring, the Schleizer Dreieck, and the TT Circuit Assen.