The Wilbers BMW team will return to the IDM at the next round in Assen. This means that Bastien Mackels’ forced break from the IDM will also come to an end on September 6. The Belgian has recently been focused on developing the new BMW S 1000 RR. The team had postponed its participation in the IDM Superbike 1000 until the end of the season due to delayed delivery of parts for the motorcycle and the workload associated with the company’s expansion in Nordhorn. The penultimate IDM event of the year will take place in Assen from September 6–8, 2019. The Wilbers BMW Team will also be on the starting grid for the season finale in Hockenheim.
“All the parts for the new motorcycle have now been delivered and installed,” explains Chief Engineer Burkhard Stember. “We’ve also had the software for a week now that allows us to fine-tune the engine braking and traction control.” Mackels has tested the S 1000 RR in Schleiz and at Hockenheim. Furthermore, the bike is scheduled to compete in next week’s 6-hour race at Spa. “But then we’ll be well prepared,” believes Stember.
The IDM was in Schleiz just recently. How fast was Mackels during his test compared to the IDM frontrunners, Julian Puffe and Ilya Mikhalchik? “We rode on the SC0 tires, not the 205s like the IDM riders,” says Stember. “In qualifying, Puffe was a second faster than Mackels during his test.” But an IDM weekend is completely different from a test day anyway, Stember adds.
What are the chances that Wilbers-BMW and Mackels will compete in a full IDM Superbike 1000 season again in 2020? “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason why not,” Stember says, “but the package still needs to be financed. It should be a done deal by the time of the Hockenheim finale.” And if not? “Then I’ll have plenty of time for myself and my wife next year.”