After a year in the Spanish Superbike Championship (ESBK), three-time IDM Superbike champion Ilya Mikhalchik has returned to the IDM and BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW for the 2023 season. The mission for the victory-hungry Ukrainian seemed clear—he was out to claim his fourth title. He underscored this ambition with a win in the first IDM race of the year at the Sachsenring. Mikhalchik ended the second race in the gravel trap while battling for a podium finish.
Things went even worse in the first race at Oschersleben, when the BMW rider was forced to retire during the formation lap after a nasty highside—an incident that remains a mystery to Mikhalchik and his team. “I’ve never crashed in a situation like that before,” Mikhalchik said, describing the incident. “I was on the formation lap, had barely any lean angle, wasn’t taking any risks, and still crashed. We still don’t understand how this could have happened. We checked all the data but couldn’t find anything. We suspect it was the tire, but the exact reason is still unclear. It’s very strange. Fortunately, I didn’t sustain any injuries, although I’m still in some pain due to the severe bruises.”
However, the crash and injuries didn’t stop the serial winner from competing in the second race, where he even set the fastest lap. “After the crash, I didn’t really feel well, and my feel for the bike wasn’t as good as it had been in practice. My bike was destroyed in the first race, so we had to build a new one. The team did a great job, and we used the same settings, but it still felt different,” explains Mikalchik. “But I felt good all week and knew that I’m especially strong on used tires. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake at the end and went down over the front wheel. But we were able to show that we can deliver a strong performance.”
The goal is to achieve top rankings
With 30 points from four races, Ilya Mikhalchik is now in 8th place overall. Like championship leader Florian Alt, Werner Daemen’s protégé will also miss the IDM races at the Red Bull Ring due to a scheduling conflict with the World Endurance Championship in Suzuka. Thoughts of the championship are therefore taking a back seat for now.
“To be honest, I’m not thinking about the championship right now,” Mikhalchik explains. “After a start to the season like this, nobody would be focusing on that.” Nevertheless, the BMW rider remains optimistic. “I usually make very few mistakes, and some of the crashes weren’t my fault. I’m using this as a learning experience that will make me even stronger. Now it’s all about showing our speed over the coming weekends, having fun, and winning races. We’ll see about the rest at the end of the season.”
Before the IDM resumes in Most, Czech Republic, at the end of June, however, the EWC round at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium is first on the schedule. Here, too, he takes a realistic view of the possibilities. “So much can happen in 24 hours that you can’t really set specific goals here. I’ll try to have fun in every session. We’ll give it our all as a team and hope that we’re rewarded for it at the end of the weekend.”