IDM SSP 300: Khan Claims Victory and Takes the Lead in the Standings

Walid Khan is the winner of the second Supersport 300 race in the International German Motorcycle Championship (IDM). After a decisive and eventful final lap, Lennox Lehmann finished second, followed by Ruben Bijman in third place.

Walid Khan’s (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing) strategy paid off for the Dutch rider today. From the very start, the KTM rider managed to stay right up front and put pressure on his rivals. With just a few laps to go, after several slipstream battles against Inigo Iglesias (Füsport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki), Phillip Tonn, and Lennox Lehmann (both Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing) to reclaim the lead and didn’t let anything slip from there on. With a comfortable lead of over a second, he crossed the finish line as the winner and was celebrated enthusiastically by the many spectators at the Schleizer Dreieck. “After things didn’t go as planned yesterday, I finally managed to secure a victory today. That was important for me so I can start next week’s World Championship round feeling confident,” said Walid Khan at the podium ceremony. The 23-year-old will compete next weekend with a wild card at the World Championship round in Most, where he aims to build on today’s performance.

In the battle for second and third place, things got particularly heated behind Khan in the final lap between Inigo Iglesias, Philipp Tonn, and Lennox Lehmann. However, Lehmann found a small gap at the start of the final lap, through which he was able to slip and pull away. A front-wheel slide nearly threw a wrench in his plans on the way to the finish line, but the 17-year-old managed to recover. He finished second. “I should have tried to pull away much earlier today. I definitely had the pace,” said the 2021 and 2020 IDM champion, critiquing his decisions during the race. After recovering from the front-wheel slip, however, he was all the more satisfied with the second-place finish he secured in the end.

Ruben Bijman (Team Apreco) secured third place on the podium. The World Championship rider benefited from the scuffle between Philipp Tonn and Inigo Iglesias, during which the Spaniard crashed. Although he was able to continue the race, he could not finish higher than 19th. Philipp Tonn managed to cross the finish line in fourth place. “That was a very tough race with lots of battles and the occasional contact,” Bijman described the race action, adding: “I was lucky that so much happened on the last lap, which ultimately worked in my favor.” For the Dutchman, it was his first podium in the IDM, where he has been competing since this season.

With a fourth-place finish in the first race and a victory in the second, Walid Khan scored a total of 38 points over the weekend. This brings his total points tally to 134 in the overall standings. With a narrow three-point lead over Inigo Iglesias, he leaves the Schleizer Dreieck as the new leader.

Update: Early Sunday evening, Philipp Tonn was retroactively disqualified from the second race. Race officials cited the KTM rider’s involvement in two avoidable collisions as the reason for their decision. His finish will not be counted.

SSP 300 Results, Race 2: