The celebrations over Lennox Lehmann’s early overall victory in the ADAC Junior Cup have not quite died down yet, and already the 13-year-old top talent from Dresden is making headlines again. Just one week after his success in Assen, the speedy Saxon is moving up to the IDM Supersport 300 class. On the Freudenberg World Supersport Academy team, Lehmann is taking the place of last year’s champion, Toni Erhard (Schwarzenberg). At the big IDM finale at the Hockenheimring, the youngster will take the starting grid for the first time on the KTM RC390 R in Supersport trim.
But that doesn’t mean Toni Erhard is out of a job. The 18-year-old, who won last year’s IDM Supersport 300 championship, is getting a second chance from his team in the extremely competitive 300cc World Championship, which is making a stop at Magny-Cours (FRA) that same weekend. There, he will race alongside Jan-Ole Jähnig (Nobitz, Thuringia) and Victor Steeman (NEL), both of whom have made the jump from the IDM to the World Championship. Jähnig, who has already secured his spot on Michael and Carsten Freudenberg’s team, is seventh in the standings heading into the race at Magny-Cours, while his Dutch teammate is even sixth, just one point ahead. Steeman is competing in his first World Championship season.
Toni Erhard has already made his World Championship debut. It took place in Misano in June. The 18-year-old thus claimed the prize from IDM tire supplier Pirelli for his championship title. However, finishing 18th in his group’s qualifying session, he missed out on a spot in the main field. At the French racetrack of Magny-Cours, Erhard may now be vying for a permanent World Championship spot for the upcoming season.
Meanwhile, all eyes at Hockenheim are on IDM rookie Lennox Lehmann. Since the season opener at the Lausitzring, Lehmann has been the rider to beat this season: in the first eight races, he scored the full points six times. In the joint races between the IDM Supersport 300 and the ADAC Junior Cup (with separate standings), the Saxon regularly broke into the pack of IDM riders on his less powerful Cup KTM.
Lehmann’s overall victory is also a success for the Freudenberg World Supersport Academy, which was newly founded ahead of this season. “It makes me proud that the new format is helping the guys and that we’ve been able to add another piece to the puzzle of our youth development program,” says team boss Carsten Freudenberg.
As the last ADAC Junior Cup champion, Lennox Lehmann has already written a special chapter in the Cup’s history: he is the last overall winner. After 26 years, the era of this junior series will come to an end at the IDM finale in Hockenheim. But for the 13-year-old KTM rider, a new chapter is now beginning.