What a weekend that was. Sixteen-year-old Lennox Lehmann finished on the podium twice in the Supersport 300 World Championship and left Motorland Aragón in third place in the championship standings. Former IDM riders have also achieved spectacular successes in the Superbike World Championship and the Supersport class.
It was Sunday, exactly 3:43 p.m., and Michael Freudenberg, head of the Freudenberg KTM-Paligo team, was screaming his heart out—out of sheer joy and excitement. Because what was happening right then at Motorland Aragón was so unbelievable, and yet so true. Lennox Lehmann crossed the finish line on the KTM RC 390 R in third place once again. He’d already done the same thing the day before. It’s almost a miracle. Because he crashed right after pulling out in the Superpole qualifier and therefore started from 25th position, a top finish had actually been written off beforehand—but then this happened. The Dresden native actually fought his way up through the field from the back. And he did it twice. The two-time IDM Supersport 300 champion couldn’t have asked for a better debut in the World Championship. His parents hug him; his mother didn’t watch the race. “She can’t,” says Lennox, “she’s watching a movie at that time and has her headphones on.” But then, once it’s all over, she runs over too, overjoyed by the success. His parents are fully behind Lennox’s career.
The race was grueling, but when Lehmann takes off his helmet, there isn’t a single bead of sweat on his forehead. “My face was a little red because I was screaming from all the excitement,” the teenager laughs. “At first, finishing on the podium felt totally unreal. It took me a while to really process it all.”
Tomorrow, Tuesday, it’s back to hitting the books at school despite his brilliant debut. Just like everyone else in his class. The next races are in Assen in two weeks, but he’s quick to point out: “Success isn’t a given. It’s easier to work your way up from the back than to break away from the front.” In early May, Lehmann will compete in the IDM season opener at the Lausitzring. “In the IDM, I gained the experience I needed for the World Championship. I think the guys at the front, like Marvin Siebdrath and Leo Rammerstorfer, could also do quite well in the World Championship.”
In the larger Supersport class, Dutch rider Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) stood out. He finished third overall in the 2021 IDM and secured two fourth-place finishes at Motorland Aragón on the Yamaha YZF-R6. Champion Patrick Hobelsberger had to settle for 10th and 13th place. During free practice, everything had gone according to plan for the Yamaha rider with Kallio Racing, but that wasn’t the case in qualifying. “I couldn’t ride the way I wanted to because we made some changes, and I made two mistakes on my fastest lap that cost me a lot of time. I had to start from P19, which was a lot of work for me because all the riders were bunched up tightly together. So I’d already squandered any chance of fighting for a top-7 finish right in qualifying.”
In the premier Superbike World Championship class, Ilya Mikhalchik (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was the man of the moment. The three-time German champion, riding as a substitute, finished eighth in the first race—faster than all the other BMW factory riders. The 25-year-old from Kyiv is the first Ukrainian in WorldSBK. In the second race, Mikhalchik crossed the finish line in 15th place, once again securing a spot in the points.