GS Yuasa as sponsor of the GERT56 Racing Team: It’s starting to get exciting!

The German Endurance Racing Team 56 (GERT56) has successfully completed the first post-corona tests. The team travelled to the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben with a total of five BMW S 1000 RR machines in three different specifications. GERT56 is now cooperating in logistics with ERC Endurance’s competitors in the Endurance World Championship. Team owner and ProKASRO boss Uwe Reinhardt now supports the Saxon team around team boss Karsten Wolf with a team truck provided by the team. The team had to cope with a new test during the loading process in the run-up to the tests and re-sort the much larger equipment for three major projects. But the extra space in the new team truck offered the best conditions for logistics optimisation.

For the two proven BMW S 1000 RR K46 EWC Stock from the FIM Endurance World Championship, Pirelli had been given the opportunity to test new rear tyres designed to meet the demand for consistent performance over two endurance turns. Lars Albrecht and Rico Löwe flew around the circuit in “late summer of their motorsport career” with the yellow shining headlights mostly in formation. “The two put the tyres through a real stress test. Should similar climatic conditions prevail at Le Mans, we have found a good compromise between performance and durability with this new SC3,” said a satisfied crew chief Holger Homfeldt.

GERT56 also took two brand new BMW S 1000 RR K67 in IDM stocksport configuration and the World Superbike prepared for Lucy Glöckner’s wildcard entry to the track. The ultra-light Ilmberger carbon dress was wrapped in a modern design by the folierer 4moto, which caused a lot of interest in the paddock. However, it was not a show run, but the focus of the two test days in Oschersleben was on the optimisation and adaptation of the suspension components by WP Suspension from Austria. The technicians from Mattighofen worked intensively with the crew chiefs and mechanics of GERT56.

While newcomer Toni Finsterbusch tested various cartridges and shocks in the stock version, Dutchman Pepijn Bijsterbosch concentrated on optimizing the components on the World Superbike. “Two intensive days with a multitude of technical and organisational challenges,” said team boss Karsten Wolf. “We were on site with almost 20 people and both the mechanics and the riders still have to get used to the specifics of the new BMW S 1000 RR. We would like to thank the organizer Bike Promotion around managing director Michael Dangrieß and coordinator Nadine Bachmann, for the very flexible embedding of our wishes in the time frame of the whole event!.

Although the concentration of GERT56 is now on the two 24-hour races at the end of August in Le Mans and in mid-September in Le Castellet, the company also wants to prepare for a possible involvement in the IDM. A first business card is to be handed in at the season finale at Hockenheim on the last weekend of September. Therefore two technicians of the team, one technician of WP Suspension and Toni Finsterbusch made the long journey to Hockenheim on Friday evening. The motorcycle action team had invited to two test days as part of the Tuner GP. With small cutlery they tried out a lot on the first day. But the GP version was driven and not the IDM layout.

On the second day a big step was made and we came closer to the top. “We chose the IDM version for the translation, which didn’t quite fit the track characteristics. Besides, I haven’t been on the bike for a long time and my deployment bike was only finished the week before. What is important to me after the four days of testing is the tendency. With GERT56 I have a highly motivated team with a lot of quality and substance. We understand the WP Suspension components better and better and the dedicated factory support really does everything to put together a successful package”, says Toni Finsterbusch, the fast Köstritzer, satisfied with the test impressions.