Jan Deitenbach Supermoto WM St. Wendel

Jan Deitenbach with top ten at world championship premiere

For the first time Jan Deitenbach started in St.Wendel in a race for the individual world championship. With tenth place, the Husqvarna rider achieved his goal!

Over 10,000 visitors lined the unique street circuit in St.Wendel, Saarland, last weekend. After more than 10 years, the World Championship was back in Germany for the first time. More than 40 pilots first had to qualify for the 32 starting positions. No problem for the reigning German champion Jan Deitenbach, even if the start into the weekend was not easy. “We have to run a different tire compound in the WRC. I didn’t get on at all during the first free practice laps on Friday,” said Deitenbach. With his mechanic Sven he adjusted the bike differently, but the second practice was cancelled. So it was not until Saturday morning that the official training continued.

Here it already worked much better, however, a new problem occurred, the electronics of the automatic gearshift did not work reliably. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to fix that on the spot, so I had to get used to the manual clutch again. You also lose at least two to three tenths of a second per lap with it.” Nevertheless, he easily made it through pre-qualifying, but things got much tighter in qualifying. In the end, the result was 12th place, absolutely respectable in the field of the world’s best.

Still on Saturday evening we went into the first race. From row four, of course, it was not possible to go straight to the front. So the pilot from the Bergos Ravenol Racing team had to be patient. Initially, he moved up to tenth place, then hung right behind another driver for many laps, missing a few times but not passing. Only when the car in front made a more serious mistake was Deitenbach able to pass. But by then the gap to those in front was already too big, and in the end it was eighth place, two seconds behind. “I am satisfied,” Deitenbach summed up in the evening. “It’s a pity it took me so long to overtake. I still have to get used to the tougher pace in the WRC.”

On Sunday, the sprint race started at noon. Deitenbach was able to move up to tenth place right at the start. But once again he was stuck behind his “favorite opponent” from race one. “I tried everything fair, but it was not enough to pass. It’s a pity, at the finish it was just two seconds to eighth place.”

In the final race of the weekend, he started from tenth place on the grid. But the supposedly better outside position proved to be a disadvantage. In the starting corner Deitenbach was forced off the track, had to go through the meadow and dropped back to 18th place. He quickly moved up again to 14th place, but then got stuck there again. “I then did my wild card lap early on to be able to attack again at the end.” But the plan didn’t quite work out, because Deitenbach made a small mistake himself this time and briefly braked the bike out. This sealed 14th place. But in the addition of all three races it was enough for tenth place!

“Sure, that was a shame with the last run, of course,” Deitenbach concluded. “With the start, my race was practically already over. Then I made the small mistake, my only one of the weekend. But I achieved my personal goal, top ten at the World Cup. I’m absolutely happy and satisfied.”

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