It came as a shock to Bastien Mackels when his team manager, Benny Wilbers, told him that he would not be competing for the IDM Superbike 1000 title in 2019. The Belgian had finished as runner-up last year on the Wilbers-BMW S 1000 RR. Instead, Mackels is now busy with development work on the brand-new S 1000 RR model and won’t be competing until the end of the season.
Due to the team management’s late decision, the 33-year-old had no other option. Benny Wilbers and BMW have both granted him permission to race for another team and another brand in this week’s World Endurance Championship race at Oschersleben.
Mackels will race for the French Kawasaki Webike Tati Team Trickstar.
It’s a stroke of luck for Mackels, who says: “I’m really happy that Wilbers and BMW are letting me race with another team even though I’m under contract with them. I’m not familiar with the Kawasaki—I haven’t tested it—and I don’t know much about Dunlop tires. But I can’t wait to race.”