Good improvements and technical trouble at the Sachsenring

The first round of the 2023 IDM championship played host to the second race meeting in the Northern Talent Cup. With steady improvements throughout the weekend only halted by an engine blow up in race 1, it was a bit of a story of “what could have been”.The first round of the 2023 IDM championship played host to the second race meeting in the Northern Talent Cup. With steady improvements throughout the weekend only halted by an engine blow up in race 1, it was a bit of a story of “what could have been”.

Whilst the first qualifying session on Friday afternoon didn’t go quite as smoothly as we had hoped, including a crash mid session, our mechanics fixing the bike in time before the end of the session, just for us to send him out with bad timing and without a group, the second quali session on Saturday afternoon more than made up for it. Anakin surprised us all, improving his lap time by another 1.2 seconds compared to Friday and securing 8th place on the grid, just 0.6 seconds off Pole.
After an average start of the line in race 1, Anie
dropped to P11 by the end of the first lap, but started a good recovery fight through the field that saw him cross the line in 6th by the end of lap 2. Sadly, whilst going through the fast T12, we suffered an engine failure that meant Anakin lost drive and could not accelerate out of the corner. This sudden lack of acceleration caught the riders behind us out and caused a four bike pileup that brought out the red flag.

his started our own race to disassemble the bike on Saturday evening, start reassembling it around a new engine at 10 o’clock in the morning when the pit’s opened, and get everything ready for a 12:45 start. Whilst the bike was fixed and ready in time, it soon transpired that Anakin was not going to be fit to race. After initial complaints of a headache in the morning, and further comments of general discomfort closer to race start, the team decided to withdraw him from the event on safety grounds.
Anakin: “The weekend started quite good. I felt good on the bike and we could improve from session to session, finally qualifying in P8 with a 0.6 seconds gap to pole. I lost some positions at the start but could recover them in the following laps. Whilst defending P6 the engine unexpectedly stopped whilst going through T12, after the fast waterfall section.
The team did a mega job to completely rebuild the bike for Sunday’s race, but sadly we had to withdraw before the race due to some health concerns after the crash. It’s a shame for the team and me, as I’m sure we had the pace for another top-10 result and valuable championship points. We look ahead and focus on Oschersleben now, where with a bit of luck we can get some good points.”
Alex: “Yeah, it’s a shame. First of all obviously for Anakin who made a massive step in qualifying, and then showed that he could not just keep up with the fast guys at the beginning but actually fight through them from P11 to P6 in the second lap alone. But also for the team, who is just as competitive as the riders, putting in the work throughout the weekend just to come away with a DNF and a DNS. But anyway, the engine issues happen and are resolved for the next round, and the rider’s health and safety of cause goes above all else, so there was no debate about withdrawing from the second race.
The main thing we can take out of this weekend is the knowledge that we made a good step forwards and have the chance to prove it wasn’t a fluke in three weeks time at Oschersleben. Also from my side, a massive thanks to Mario and Willi for their work this weekend, always making sure the bike was in good shape and ready for the next session, and keeping Anie calm and in a good headspace.”

Whilst our NTC squad has a three week break before racing resumes at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in early June, our MiniGP’s head to the Red Bull Ring next week for their first race meeting of 2023. With Danny Hinkelmann representing us in the 160cc class, and Anina Urlass and Ben Wiegner on the bigger 190s, we look forward to an existing second season in MiniGPs. With a JRP Bike bing on the podium of almost every MiniGP race last year, Anina scored the 3rd place in last year’s championship, Ben managing a third place and a victory in the two races he competed in for our team last year, and Danny also showing good improvements, we are hopeful to be fighting right up the sharp again this season.