German Endurance Racing Team 56 (GERT56) is about to head onto a new path in 2020. The reigning FIM Endurance World Cup runner-up squad is going to try to better that spot by one position and get the crown to Pirna, Saxony. But beside that, the team will also field Lucy Glöckner in a one-off at the International German Championship (IDM) at the race lady’s home race at the Sachsenring.
Furthermore, GERT56 is going to apply for a Wildcard at the FIM Superbike World Championship’s comeback to Germany and at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben with Lucy Glöckner too.
For the Endurance engagement, the team contracted Toni Finsterbusch to partner as spare rider at the 24 heures Motos at Le Mans – and to field the Saxonian rider in a IDM wild card.
It is going to be a busy year 2020 for GERT56: Mid-April, the first race of the year is going to be held at the 24 hours of Le Mans, running on the beloved BMW S 1000 RR that helped the team earning a second spot in the Superstock category at the currently held Sepang race. Riders at France will be the well known trio of Lucy Glöckner, Stefan Kerschbaumer and Pepijn Bijsterbosch. Additionally, the team will field Toni Finsterbusch as reserve rider at this year’s opening race.
Glöckner will carry on at the Sachsenring with a one-off in Germany’s IDM Superbike category and a new BMW S 1000 RR Superbike will be build by the team for that event on the current rules. Actually, the team wanted to carry on at the second IDM round at the Red Bull Ring in Austria with Kerschbaumer, but he got a permanent contract with Team BCC for the IDM in the meantime. Therefore the team opted for another one-off with Toni Finsterbusch with details about the track and the date still to be confirmed.
After that, the two highlights of the year are about to follow at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, starting with the final race of the 2019/2020 FIM Endurance Superstock World Cup to fix the wound of the runner-up spot one year ago – equal on points with the world champions.
Wildcard in WorldSBK
The “proper” highlight of the year will be the first weekend in August where GERT56 is applying for a Wild Card in the FIM World Superbike Championship with Lucy Glöckner. Glöckner quite rightly can be named the world’s fastest woman which she proved in several competitions against men’s opposition already. In Endurance, she has shown to have the speed and pace of the world’s fastest racers in EWC’s superbike class.
For that, Team GERT56 is about to build a brand new BMW S 1000 RR WorldSBK bike with the RS Speebikes company and their masterminds Ronny Schlieder and Falko Gierth, using high performance parts of alpha Technik, Ilmberger Carbon, Suter and Co only. There is a testing schedule in placer already, so GERT56 and Glöckner are going to be well prepared for the one-off in the WorldSBK scenery. Also extern partners are on board with their expertise to not make any faults in advance and during the event. The team already announced to follow its own path with some innovative components.
Lucy Glöckner:
“An exciting year is laying ahead of us and I really don’t know where to start to talk about it – best is Endurance! I love the Endurance, enjoy racing there and am having great fun as you got a hell of a riding time there. We have had two rain-washed races but still got a podium in Sepang and are well into the mix for the fight for the world title, which remains our main target to be Stock World Champions at the end of this season! We know we have to work a lot at Le Mans to gain as much points as possible there. I am also looking forward to the one off at the IDM but I would be lying if I would not consider the Wirld Card in the World Superbikes as the highlight of the year – maybe even of my career so far. We all know we are going to try to swim in a shark tank and we don’t know what to expect apart from it will be a dance with a rarity of air. For me it is still unbelievable to feel the support of the whole team and to see how everybody already is working on the motorbike. For that reason I for sure will work on myself as well to be prepared best possibly for this challenge. At the moment my biggest problem is the time – it feels like it is ages away but I want to start all those challenges right away and now! A big, big thank you GERT56!”
Stefan Kerschbaumer:
“Our GERT56 is a proper team – not only in Endurance racing, where we are well situated to have a go for the title in the Superstock again, which remains our main target for this year. But Karsten Wolf and his crew also offered me a one-off at my IDM home race at Spielberg and we already had agreed on that when I got a offer to do the full IDM season for team BCC, where everybody encouraged me to do so. But for sure I want to thank the whole crew to even consider going to IDM with me! At Le Mans, we rider’s want to say a big ‘thank you’ to the whole team for all those efforts by getting the best possible result after 24 hours which only can be a podium!”
Pepijn Bijsterbosch:
“To be involved in GERT56 always is exciting! It was my first visit to the team’s base at Pirna at the Sachsenkrad expo at Dresden. It was my girlfriend’s Laura’s and my first time at Dresden and we really enjoyed this beautiful city. Saturday night was our team’s party and Sunday our team’s presentation at the expo. Of course we all knew about the plans for quite a while, IDM and WorldSBK speaking – and you really feel at home at GERT56 as I feel if there would have not been a IDM plan for my side, they would have offered me one. But we have a plan together which is to fight for the Endurance World Cup title and I will try my very best to reach this target.”
Toni Finsterbusch:
“I am happy to now be a part of GERT56. I will go to Le Mans to be the reserve rider and I will try to do my part for the team during practices and qualifyings. I know this title would mean a lot to all in this team and Karsten Wolf always has a plan – and that’s why he wanted a strong rider on his ‘subs’ bench’. And even if I won’t be racing at Le Mans, the team straight away offered me this chance and I am more than happy to take it. As talks continued, GERT56 also offered me a one off in the IDM and this is nothing but special! That’s why I already have to thank the team a lot now!”
Karsten Wolf:
“Those have been some emotional days and weeks we just have passed. GERT56 now is at the point we are standing now just because all our team members have gifted me the most valuable thing they could give me which always has been: their time! It is almost impossible to call this ‘squad’ a team as this would be underrated, we are a big family. We are trying a lot this year and are going to see what comes around. Of course it is our main target to earn the Endurance title but I am also looking forward to our wild card outings in IDM and WorldSBK. We all know it is not going to be easy, but how could you know if you’d never tried? We are here, to follow our dreams to finally maybe reach them – you simply have to work and try. To me, Lucy Glöckner is an amazing motorbike racer and we would love to show that on the WorldSBK stage. We are going to take part in four different championships this year and friend, partners and sponsors can be assured we are willing to use every possibility and chance consequently – but we also know our limits and will be heading for realistic targets and every single outing we are going to take part in.”
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