His friends include Moto2 World Championship rider Marcel Schrötter and World Superbike rider Jonas Folger; he himself is a supermoto rider—and what a rider he is: Marc-Reiner Schmidt leads the Supermoto World Championship and is on his way to his first world title. The 25-year-old from Lake Constance has a 17-point lead over eight-time world champion Thomas Chareyre of France. But he’s also long since gotten a taste for road racing. At the IDM finale in Hockenheim, he’ll compete in his first Superbike 1000 race.
During the winter, Schmidt had already been training in Almería and Barcelona on an old 600cc Yamaha until the bike broke down. So in Valencia, he rented a YZF-R1 so he could keep riding with his friends. Upon his return, Marcel Schrötter put him in touch with training organizer Tommy Wagner. Wagner not only became Schmidt’s private sponsor in the Supermoto World Championship, but he also helped the rider from southern Germany get up to speed on a BMW S 1000 RR for circuit racing. Wagner also reached out to the Kiefer Racing Team, and then everything happened very quickly. Suddenly, his first race in the IDM Superbike 1000 class was on the schedule.
He received his license on Wednesday and headed to Hockenheim on Thursday. “I think it’s absolutely cool here,” said Schmidt, clearly impressed. “The S 1000 RR suits me well.” The first free practice session went awry and ended after just two laps. In the second session, Schmidt’s best time was 1:29.939 min. In his first appearance in the premier class, the guest rider finished 3.122 seconds behind the leader and placed 23rd out of 28 riders. “I’m only getting a taste of the suspension and electronics here, but this class could be my future,” Schmidt is already convinced.