In the middle of the summer, Luca Grünwald publicly voiced his thoughts for the first time that this might well be his final season in the International German Motorcycle Championship (IDM). It was a rollercoaster ride right up until the end. Now, after 14 races and with 37 points to his name, Grünwald has called it quits in 15th place overall and plans to continue his career in the World Endurance Championship. When he returns from his vacation in Australia, he’ll be able to weigh his options. His successor on the IDM BMW for the BCC Racing Team, however, has already been decided. It’s Max Schmidt.
Max Schmidt, from Wuppertal, was the youngest rider to enter Germany’s top motorcycle class in 2021 at the age of 17, when he made his debut on Denis Hertrampf’s team. Most recently, in 2023 and 2024, the now 21-year-old joined Belgian Werner Daemen’s championship-winning team. The student on the BMW M 1000 RR has continued to make steady progress.
Then came the setback. During an invitational event for the 24-hour race in Barcelona, disaster struck. Schmidt went down in the third turn after a highside. Upon hitting the Spanish asphalt, he suffered a complex fracture of his right upper arm. Worse still, the athlete’s nervous system was also damaged. With severe functional impairment in his right arm, his season was over.
Following surgeries in Spain and Germany and intensive rehabilitation, Schmidt is now in good shape. The planning for an IDM comeback next year has been less painful and time-consuming than the healing process itself. The Heilbronn-based BCC Racing team, led by team manager Andreas Gerlich, is laying the groundwork. BCC Racing has collaborated successfully for years with championship-winning manager Werner Daemen. Since 2024, Andreas Gerlich—who previously managed four-time champion Markus Reiterberger—has been running the IDM project independently again. As early as the first weeks of the new year, BCC Racing plans to conduct initial tests with the newly built BMW M 1000 RR and Max Schmidt, who aims to reestablish himself as a thoroughbred racer.
Gerlich has had his eye on the rider from North Rhine-Westphalia for quite some time. “We’ve been following him since he first competed in the Stocksport class on a 1,000cc motorcycle in 2020. His courage has fascinated us. We’re thrilled to be able to work with him now. We’ll give it our all, and so will the rider.”