Just as quickly as he had signed on, the departure was just as swift. Valentino Herrlich is once again looking for a team in the IDM Supersport series. After only two months, the partnership between MotoLife and the 16-year-old from Hesse—which was announced at the end of December—has reached a dead end. Differences in approach during preseason preparations led to the split. Marcel Brenner will now be the sole IDM Supersport rider at MotoLife. Team boss Andreas Köder is also preparing the equipment for the two Feigl brothers, Filip and Petr, from the Czech Republic. And the motorcycle shop owner from Ellwangen is introducing yet another rider: Ben Kugler. He will compete for the team in the new IDM Sportbike class on an Aprilia RS 660.
Ben Kugler is fed up right now. The 20-year-old from Kemnat has been battling the flu for three long weeks, going through stacks of tissues and dealing with his cough. That was exactly what he didn’t need right now. He has two weeks left to get back into the swing of things. Then he’ll head to France on his Aprilia sport bike for his first test.
Kugler works as a process engineer specializing in plastics and rubber technology, with a focus on components. Now something new awaits him—but this time on the racetrack: the Aprilia RS 660. Kugler has never ridden it before, let alone sat on it. But there’s always a first time. With his Yamaha from the R7 Cup, he reached speeds of around 220 km/h. The Aprilia sportbike can go a bit faster. In the 2024 Cup, he secured seven podium finishes, including a victory at Hockenheim. He finished fourth in the overall standings. “As far as I’m concerned, things could keep going this way,” says the rising star. In the IDM Sportbike series, Kugler will also be reunited with his buddy Felix Kauertz, the runner-up from the R7 Cup. Just like Kauertz, Kugler started racing late in life. And both are now competing again on the same brand, which is now called Aprilia.
“I’ll see where I stand during the first race weekend,” says Kugler, though he’s reluctant to make any predictions about where he sees himself among the competition. “I should be in the top 10, but the goal is to finish in the top 5.”