There were plenty of tears. Christoph Beinlich made the decision to stay in racing entirely on his own. A year and a half after his brother’s tragic death in a crash, he has completed his first Superbike season. With his family’s full support, he will continue in 2026.
After super sports car driver Troy Beinlich was killed in an accident on March 30, 2024, the family-run Beinlich Racing Team (BRT) had suspended all racing activities. “And suddenly, a single day divides an entire life into a before and an after,” read the 21-year-old’s obituary. The future was uncertain. But after a year of inactivity, his brother Chris eventually got back on a motorcycle. He was eager for a comeback “in the life after,” and everyone knew what he meant when he said, “I can’t live without racing.”
The Beinlich family and racing go together like a house on fire. But in order to keep going, 29-year-old Christoph from Pößneck, Thuringia, really needed a fresh start after everything that had happened in 2024. After six years in the IDM Supersport class, he Supersport up to IDM Superbike in 2025, the top class in the International German Motorcycle Championship. He joined Team GERT56 by RS Speedbikes, which already has experience with BMW and proved to be a great help in tuning the bike.
“We’ll be continuing with the same lineup,” the die-hard racer said at INTERMOT in Cologne, where his motorcycle bearing the number “71” was also on display. “I settled everything with Karsten Wolf, the GERT56 team boss, with a handshake. I owe a lot to the team. And to my father.” Without Knut Beinlich’s immense dedication, the project would not have been possible.
Like so many of his competitors, his first season in Germany’s top racing class was occasionally a struggle. Chris Beinlich didn’t even know the Nürburgring beyond what he’d heard about it. “I often improved my lap times by a second during practice, but then the pole position time at the front was beaten by another second,” says the 30-year-old, who turned 30 in October, reflecting on his early days. “The class is insanely fast. In the evenings, we always analyzed all the BMW’s driving data. Realistically speaking, I was actually at a good level; it just didn’t look so good in terms of the standings. Making that look good too—that’s now the goal for the coming season.”
