A top-ten finish was within reach, but the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team’s strong performance at the Suzuka 8 Hours went unrewarded. The team was forced to retire due to a technical issue with the BMW M 1000 RR. Markus Reiterberger is now looking forward to the next round of the IDM Superbike series, which takes place this coming weekend in Assen.
Until the retirement, the race week at Suzuka had gone well for the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team. The team led by Team Manager Werner Daemen, which was competing in the classic race for the first time, was the only factory team from a European manufacturer to hold its own against a strong field of numerous Japanese teams and qualified for ninth place on the starting grid.
The heat and high humidity made the race a physical challenge, but everything was going well for starting rider Ilya Mikhalchik, Markus Reiterberger, and Jérémy Guarnoni. A fifth- or sixth-place finish seemed within reach. For a European team, that would have been a very good result at Suzuka. However, after just under four of eight hours, the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team was forced to retire. Mikhalchik pulled over to the side of the track, pushed the motorcycle a short distance, and then rode back to the pits. Diagnosis: engine failure in the cooling system—and thus the end of the team’s Suzuka campaign.
IDM Superbike leader Reiterberger was frustrated: “We were always in the mix between the top 5 and top 8. So we set a goal of finishing in the top five to seven. That would have been a realistic goal. We could have gone far. It was a shame that we then had that technical problem.”
This coming Thursday, 28-year-old Reiti will travel to Assen with the BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW team, for which he competes in the IDM. The Bavarian holds a 77-point lead over second-place Florian Alt (Wilbers-BMW-Racing) in the overall standings. His path to a fourth title in the premier class has been smooth so far.