The first step has been taken. Bastien Mackels has begun riding the Yamaha YZF-R1 for Team Bayer-Bikerbox powered by Yamaichi Electronics. The venue: Hockenheim.
Cool weather, but a great atmosphere. Mackels and the newly formed team met for the first time at the Motodrom in Baden-Württemberg. Belgian mentality met the Bavarian way of life. At the same time, Mackels’ move to the Feichten-based team marked a switch in manufacturers for the IDM Superbike 1000 rider. Yamaha has now replaced BMW.
“It was a rollout,” Mackels reports. “We wanted to get a feel for the bike first and lay the groundwork for teamwork.” Lap times weren’t even on the agenda yet, but the pace was right. Mackels reflects: “If we had a race at Hockenheim next week, we’d definitely be right up there at the front. I’m really happy with how things are coming together.”
According to team manager Josef Buchner, Mackels completed only three laps in the cool temperatures. “There were a lot of amateur riders on the track. To get Bastien used to the new package, we had him ride the 2019 Yamaha. Marvin Fritz won last year’s season finale at Hockenheim on that bike. We didn’t change any of the settings at all. But Bastien got along with it great right away. Since his riding style is very similar to Marvin’s, we were even able to make small improvements in the short time we had. Bastien has a good technical understanding. He can give very clear feedback on the bike.”
Buchner hopes that the threat posed by the coronavirus will soon be over. “We’d like to take this year’s R1-M out for a test drive on a racetrack over Easter. The kit electronics weren’t ready in time for that test.”