IDM Superstock 600 Cup: Is winner Marco Fetz the next big thing in superbike racing at Wilbers-BMW?

IDM Superstock 600 Cup: Is winner Marco Fetz the next big thing in superbike racing at Wilbers-BMW?

Marco Fetz is the 2018 Superstock 600 champion. The Bavarian has his sights set on bigger challenges. Text: Anke Wieczorek; Photos: Dino Eisele

He won six out of twelve races and finished on the podium in every other race: Marco Fetz won the title in the IDM Superstock 600 Cup he earned it in style, and there’s plenty to celebrate. Right now, the 18-year-old Bayer is having a blast riding motorcycles with his dad and a few friends at the Pannoniaring. That’s what the end of the season looks like for an ambitious racer. Fetz has his Yamaha R6 out of the Cup and a BMW 1000 in Hungary as well.

What’s next? Discussions are underway. “Definitely,” says Fetz, “and in all directions.” Promotion to the IDM Supersport and IDM Superbike 1000 are the options. In the Cup, the aspiring industrial mechanic was the only one of his kind to ride with a Wilbers suspension. Such a deal would also be conceivable in the IDM Supersport .

Or will the local hero from Kleinbreitenbronn, a village of 150 people in Middle Franconia, make a direct leap to the IDM Superbike 1000? It’s no secret that Benny Wilbers would like to support a young rider with a separate team structure alongside his development team, which includes seasoned rider Bastien Mackels.

Fetz’s resume would be a good fit: third place in the 2017 Yamaha R6 Dunlop Cup, and winner of the 2018 Superstock 600 Cup, which was held in the same field as the IDM Supersport but was scored separately. That said, the 76-kilogram teenager, standing 189 centimeters tall, regularly left a fair number of IDM riders in his wake—riders who, due to the technical regulations, were allowed to have more power under the seat.

Nothing has been decided yet, but one thing is certain: Marco Fetz has already made a name for himself with several different approaches.