It’s official: Bikerbox Racing team owners Sepp Buchner and Jakob Bayer are returning to the top class of the International German Motorcycle Championship. Their rider: Bastien Mackels. With Marvin Fritz, the team won the IDM Superbike 1000 title in 2016. What will Mackels achieve?
All racing activities had been on hold for a year. But now, a team that enjoyed such glory in the past is reuniting. Buchner’s Bikerbox Racing and Motorrad Bayer from the Allgäu region are joining forces once again. A phone call from Bastien Mackels set the ball rolling. The Belgian was looking for a job after failing to reach an agreement with Wilbers-BMW—even though he finished on the podium once in each of his only two IDM Superbike 1000 appearances last year at Assen and Hockenheim. At Hockenheim, Marvin Fritz, who is now competing in the FIM Endurance World Championship, also raced once more for his “old” team, Bikerbox. In the final IDM race of the premier class, he secured the only Yamaha victory of the 2019 season, albeit as a guest rider. And now Bastien Mackels joins Team Bayer-Bikerbox powered by Yamaichi Electronics as the title favorite.
Instead of riding the S 1000 RR, the 33-year-old will be riding the Yamaha YZF R1-M in the future and is overjoyed by this fortunate turn of events. “It’s great that an opportunity opened up at the last minute to race in the IDM Superbike series with Sepp Buchner and Jakob Bayer’s team. The email saying that my collaboration with last year’s team was ending was devastating. But I wanted to find the best possible setup so I could still compete in the 2020 season. After I called Sepp and Jakob, we had a meeting right away. The chemistry is right. They have the same motivation as I do. They want to win the championship again. This project is a real opportunity for me. I’m in an ideal position, as I’ll be riding for one of the few teams that have recently been successful. We’ll be riding the brand-new Yamaha R1-M, which is more powerful than the previous model.”
Behind the scenes, things immediately started moving in all areas. Technical Director Sepp Buchner explains: “Even though this agreement came together at very short notice, we’ve already made significant progress with our season planning. Nevertheless, we’re still on the lookout for a sponsor or two.” And he adds: “With Bastien Mackels, we want to be right up there at the front from the very start. Bastien is no stranger to the IDM; he has racked up many successes in recent years. He is highly motivated and brings a wealth of experience to the table. With his friendly and open-minded nature, he fits perfectly into our team.”