In the Reiterberger family, everyone is passionate about motorcycles, including father Thomas who prepares BMW S 1000 RR engines at Alpha Racing. His son Markus, now 26, currently drives a BMW in the ARRC (Asian Road Racing Championship) for the Malaysian Onexox TKKR SAG BMW team.
In 2019, the series included seven events at Sepang/Malaysia (twice), Bend Motorsport Park/South Australia, Buriram/Thailand (twice), Suzuka/Japan and Zhuhai/China. Another site in Indonesia is expected to be added in the medium term, after the pandemic ends.
Markus Reiterberger arrived at the world level in 2007 by participating in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, then in 2011 he competed in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup on a BMW within the Garnier alpha Racing Team. He won this championship in 2018 with alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW. He previously competed in the World Superbike Championship, finishing at best sixteenth in 2016. He currently races the World Endurance Championship for the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team with teammate Ilya Mikhalchik. This team currently occupies second place in the general ranking.
Let's go back to 2011, when “Reiti” made his world debut with the Burgundian Michel Garnier team. He then had as a mentor Ralf Waldmann, second in the 250 cc World Championship in 3 and 1996.
Markus took over the former workshop of Ralf Waldmann (who died two years ago), specializing in small cars. “When there is nothing left to do in racing, I can continue to practice my profession » said Markus Reiterberger to Ivo Schützbach from Speedweek. com.
“I try to avoid contact with other people as much as possible. I am at home or in my workshop. For me it's currently just normal work – it's a bit monotonous, but also fun. Last year in December I started to set up my own workshop in Obing, and worked on the renovation until recently. »
“I have more or less taken over the tuning business from Waldi and will continue to do so. I have a lot of mopeds, mostly Kreidlers. Although I don't promote tuning much, I have a good demand. I have to make do and earn some money. »
He needs this too, because in the Asian championship he is paid for each race if he is successful. “ If there are no races, there is no coal…”
“I cannot change the current situation in racing. I created a workshop just for such a case. If there is nothing left in the race, I can continue to practice my profession, which is a lot of fun for me. »
Photos © BMW, Markus Reiterberger personal
