KTM rider Dirk Geiger has been leading the World Supersport since last weekend and heads to Schleiz as the points leader for the upcoming IDM weekend. Geiger, who competes for Team Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing in both the World Championship and the IDM, finished second and won a race at Imola, thereby claiming the top spot in the standings. With a total of 116 points and a 17-point lead over his closest rival, Matteo Vannucci, he now heads into the second half of the World Championship in a strong position.
But the season so far has been anything but smooth for Dirk Geiger and his team. Although he got along well with his bike, problems kept cropping up in the turns or while braking—issues that proved persistent and left the team baffled. “I constantly had a strange feeling on the motorcycle that persisted despite many changes and efforts,” says the Mannheim native, describing the problem for which there was initially no plausible explanation.
During the IDM weekend in Most, they finally managed to make an important discovery and implement adjustments that ultimately led to Geiger securing a second- and third-place finish on the podium. “We then carried those settings over to Imola, where, fortunately, they worked perfectly as well,” Geiger continued. It was the 21-year-old’s first race at Imola.
The KTM rider will not compete in the upcoming IDM weekend in Schleiz. Instead, he will continue his participation in the World Championship from July 28 to 30 in Most, where his IDM teammate Walid Khan will also be competing thanks to a wild card.