Now we know what will happen in 2022 in Werner Daemen's large BMW team. The factory team has merged with the BCC Racing Team. The deal took weeks to finalize, and now the four riders for the IDM Superbike have been confirmed: Markus Reiterberger (left), Pepijn Bijsterbosch (right), Jan Mohr (center), and Kamil Krzemien.
Last year, a joint venture between the Belgian and German teams was already looking increasingly likely. This became clear when Markus Reiterberger made several appearances for BCC Racing and became a rival to title contender Ilya Mikhalchik. In the Endurance World Championship, however, the two formed a well-coordinated team under the leadership of Werner Daemen. The waves have now been smoothed. Following the withdrawal of sponsor EGS from the IDM Superbike, the merger seems all the more sensible. After all, the next title is also set to go to the team now competing as BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW. The jobs in the management team have been divided up. Belgian and former Superbike rider Werner Daemen will continue to take care of management. Andreas Gerlich, owner of the BCC company in Heilbronn, will act as crew chief and take care of the technical side of things.
Markus Reiterberger clearly has his sights set on a fourth title in the premier class. After 2013, 2015, and 2017, he is aiming to do it again. The conditions are right. Last season, the Bavarian only took part in three events, but as a rider for the BCC Racing Team, he secured three victories in six races. Ilya Mikhalchik, also a three-time IDM champion, will no longer be challenging him in the future. There are no plans for him to continue racing in the IDM Superbike. Team boss Daemen, who has also taken on the role of manager for the Ukrainian, is not yet revealing where he sees the 25-year-old racer in the coming months, but one of the options was Spain.
Kamil Krzemien (photo left) is completely new to BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW, but he is not an unknown face either. The 22-year-old Pole from Dolna, a town in the bilingual municipality of Leschnitz, completed his rookie year in the IDM Superbike in 2021 and scored the first 27 championship points of his IDM career with the LRP Poland team. He is familiar with the motorcycle that now awaits him. His team last year also rode the BMW M 1000 RR.
Jan Mohr from Austria and Pepijn Bijsterbosch from the Netherlands have extended their contracts with Werner Daemen. Mohr finished 14th overall in 2021 and achieved his best result at the end of the season: he finished seventh in the second race at the Hockenheim finale. Bijsterbosch went into the winter break in 16th place in the standings.
